PinkNews director suspended from NHS following allegations of sexual misconduct

Dr Anthony James, Chief Operating Officer of LGBTQ+ news organisation PinkNews, has been suspended from his role in the NHS following recent allegations of sexual misconduct made against him and his husband.

According to a BBC report, the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust suspended Dr James from his role as associate non-executive director until further information on the allegations comes to light.

The news follows a report published by the BBC earlier this week in which Dr James and Benjamin Cohen, the company’s CEO, were accused of sexual misconduct by a number of former staff members earlier this week.

In that report, five former PinkNews employees say they saw Dr James groping and kissing a junior member of staff who they claim was “too drunk to stand or talk” and “unable to consent”.

One member of staff said that he witnessed Dr James leading the junior staff member behind a tree outside the London pub where staff had congregated after a PinkNews event.

In a separate incident, another former staff member accuses Cohen of inviting him back to the couple’s shared home as Dr James was away.

“It put me on alert because it made me realise it was a boundary he thought he could cross”

“Ben was extremely drunk to the point he fell off his chair, and then asked me out of earshot of my other colleagues whether I wanted to go back to his […] because Anthony his husband wasn’t there,” the former staff member, referred to as ‘Damian’ in the BBC’s report, said.

“He said something along the lines of ‘Anthony is always getting with other men’ and the suggestion was we would do something sexually. I was extremely uncomfortable.”

“I never heard about it again, no apology,” ‘Damian’ continued. “It put me on alert because it made me realise it was a boundary he thought he could cross.”

There's also a documentary on iPlayer and coverage across @BBCNews throughout the day..

Shot and edited : @dannelson_cam & Filmed and Produced: @kristianj23 https://t.co/CRQiaJeXHz

— Josh Parry (@joshparry) December 10, 2024

The damning report also includes detail of what is described as “a culture of heavy drinking” in the company, as corroborated by over 30 current and former members of staff.

The couple are also accused of misogyny in the workplace, with multiple staff members recalling incidents of young female employees being asked – often in a joking manner – to act as the couple’s surrogates.

The report outlines that representatives for Cohen and James informed the BBC they were not able to provide a comment on the allegations made against them at this time but that it understands that their position is that the allegations are false.

This investigation by the BBC comes in the wake of Pink News Whistleblowers, an account which appeared on X earlier this year posting alleged stories from former members of staff and making allegations of a toxic work environment at the online news site. 

In September 2024, lawyers for PinkNews told the Press Gazette it was considering taking legal action against the account. The account has since disappeared.

Attitude has reached out to PinkNews for comment on the allegations made against Cohen and James and is awaiting a response.