BBC pulls Ashley Cain documentary over abusive and misogynistic remarks

The BBC has pulled a documentary series with its controversial presenter Ashley Cain after revelations over his history of abusive and misogynistic comments about women. In a statement late on Thursday, the BBC said its vetting requirements had “clearly failed” in the case of Cain, who was lauded by executives at the corporation for his ability to connect with young men. It added the BBC had “no plans” to broadcast a new series of Ashley Cain: Into the Danger Zone, a BBC programme that was filmed earlier this year at various locations across the world. A former footballer turned reality TV star, Cain’s BBC series features him travelling to the world’s most dangerous places, interviewing young men who live on the fringes of society. The announcement came after the Guardian revealed Cain had a history of making abusive and misogynistic remarks about women, who he has variously called “slags”, “sluts”, “psychos” and “bitches”. The comments on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, were publicly available until this week, when his account was taken down. “The posts by Ashley Cain, albeit from many years ago, are completely unacceptable,” the BBC said. “The BBC has clear requirements around vetting and social media checks, which are undertaken by the production company. In this instance, the process clearly failed and we are investigating why. …