The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Sarah Marshal
PinkNews staff have called for the resignation of the couple who run the world’s largest LGBTQ+ news site, accusing the company of fostering a “toxic culture” following explosive sexual misconduct allegations.
Benjamin Cohen, the founder and CEO, and his husband, Anthony James, have been accused by more than 30 current and former employees of inappropriate behaviour towards staff in recent days. They have called the allegations false.
Current employees have expressed fears that the company could “crumble” if the “arrogant” pair refuse to step down, though many are sceptical that such a resignation will occur.
“I genuinely think from this point either Ben and Anthony resign or PinkNews crumbles,” a member of staff told on the condition of anonymity. “I don’t know how quickly it’s going to crumble, whether it will shatter or dissipate I don’t know. But we are all really scared for whatever that outcome is.
“Ben is so arrogant, and so sure of himself as one of these great media pioneers that I think he would rather see PinkNews crumble than resign and that is such a mistake.”
It is this arrogance that the staff member says has compounded a toxic work culture at the media organisation, resulting in low morale and a high staff turnover, they added.
The staff member also revealed they were pulled aside by a colleague who warned them that the company routinely “collapsed” with “some sort of horrible thing” happening every year or so.
They claimed the “volatile” workplace was made worse by Mr Cohen, with staff often not wanting him to be present in company meetings out of fear that he would say something inappropriate.
“There are actual intrinsic issues with the way PinkNews is run, but those are only compounded with the way Ben and Anthony are.”
They added: “A lot of the time when we were having company-wide meetings people would ask not to have Ben on the call because every time he did, he would say something awful.”
The employee recalled a particular period last year when a host of redundancies were made, with people finding out they were losing their jobs “through hearsay,” and the threat of redundancy being used inappropriately.
“Every company has redundancies, it’s a sad fact of business. But it was the fact they were almost being used as a carrot on a stick if you don’t do this or that then you will be let go. The way it was used was so toxic and that boils down to the way Ben and Anthony do business,” they said.
“We would be told there were no new redundancies but then the next week would come around and a few people would have mysteriously disappeared.”
The calls for the couple’s resignation come after they were accused of multiple instances of sexual misconduct by staff members.
In an investigation by the BBC, several staff members claimed that they saw Mr James kissing and touching a junior colleague who appeared too drunk to consent.
The alleged incident is said to have taken place outside a London pub where staff had gathered after a PinkNews event.
Representatives for Mr Cohen and Dr James told the BBC they could not provide a statement “at this time” but said all of the allegations were false.
In the report, another former staff member claimed that he was slapped on the rear by Mr Cohen in front of people at a Christmas party, while another claimed to have been asked to go back to Mr Cohen’s home because his husband wasn’t there.
