Freddie Starr Portrait - H 2012
Getty ImagesBritish comedian Freddie Starr has been detained by London police as part of its probe into sexual abuse allegations against late former BBC host Jimmy Savile and others, according to reports late Thursday.
BBC News reported that a man in his 60s has been arrested as part of the Savile investigation. The arrest was made at 5:45pm on suspicion of sexual abuse, it said.
The BBC and ITV News soon identified the man as Starr. A woman recently told ITV News that she was “horribly, horribly humiliated by Freddie Starr, who had a very bad attack of wandering hands and had groped me” when she was in her teens. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Starr is known here for performing observational, musical and insult comedy.
The news of his arrest came after last weekend’s arrest of pop star Gary Glitter who was later released on bail.
The London Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard, has said that its investigation is looking at as many as 300 young abuse victims in the broader Savile scandal.
The Savile scandal has rocked the BBC and its leadership, which has been criticized for ignoring signs that he sexually abused young women in his heyday when he hosted BBC music charts show Top of the Pops and another show. The scandal has led to two internal probes at the public broadcaster.
In the early 1960s, Starr was the lead singer of pop group The Midnighters, whose promoter was Beatles manager Brian Epstein, according to Wikipedia. He then appeared on the talent TV show Opportunity Knocks and later became one of the main stars of Who Do You Do and a regular on TV panel show Joker’s Wild.
Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
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