Presenter Naga Munchetty could face an investigation from BBC bosses after she was accused of bullying a junior colleague.
The BBC Breakfast host, 50, has been placed ‘under review’ while bosses consider escalating complaints to a formal investigation, The Sun reports.
A source said higher-ups had heard from several colleagues and logged concerns over her ‘hard’ and ‘bullying’ behaviour on the breakfast show, as well as her Radio 5 Live show.
‘Following the amount of people who have come forward to share their experiences with Naga, the BBC has officially moved to place the complaints under review.
‘The review is to ascertain whether a full-on investigation is required and that could come in weeks’, the source told The Sun.
A BBC spokesperson told Daily Mail: ‘While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values.
‘We have robust processes in place and would encourage any staff with concerns to raise them directly with us so they can be addressed.’
It comes after Munchetty was spoken to by execs after a junior staffer accused the journalist of bullying them.
She was also reportedly hauled into a meeting after she made a sex jibe during an ad break while hosting her radio show.
She is believed to have used a crude slang term for a sec act and reportedly asled a colleague if they had ever done it.
It was also reported last month that Munchetty was planning on quitting BBC Breakfast after she was accused of bullying.
Her own conduct was thrown into doubt when BBC Breakfast’s editor Richard Frediani reportedly took an extended period of leave, after an internal review of bullying and misconduct allegations was opened into the show.
Amid the fallout, Munchetty’s agents have reportedly ‘held talks with rival station LBC’ to explore opportunities for the highly-respected journalist.
A source told The Sun: ‘The fallout of Richard Frediani’s investigation created a stark ‘him or her’ narrative on Breakfast with Naga flung to the front line.
‘The fact is she loves the BBC and her job but there’s only so much external noise anyone is prepared to take. LBC would suit her well as the focus remains on news-led broadcasting, they take a hard line and there’s far less of the fluffy nonsense involved in working at the BBC.
‘Her team last week renewed historic talks with the Global radio station to see if there could be any work for her there.’
New figures released by the BBC last month revealed the presenter was awarded a £10,000 increase in her annual salary.
It now takes her pay packet to an eye-watering £355,000 – almost double that of her co-host Charlie Stayt.
Stayt, 63, has remained in the £190,000 bracket as tensions between the pair are said to be ‘rife’.
Munchetty hosts BBC Breakfast on Thursdays to Saturdays with Charlie, while Jon Kay and Sally Nugent anchor the programme from the start of the week.
Today, BBC Breakfast was branded a ‘clown show’ by fans after a ‘car crash’ interview left viewers cringing.
Munchetty and Stayt presented Friday’s instalment of the daytime news show.
Crime novelist Lynda La Plante was discussing her latest book release The Scene Of The Crime.
Having researched forensics for her novels, Lynda explained animatedly: ‘If you have blood spattering, you could get an expert that deals only with that, and they could walk in and see pooling, splattering-‘
But she was interrupted by Munchetty, who quickly warned her: ‘Careful! It’s breakfast.’
Good-natured Lynda seemed unfazed, and laughed: ‘Sorry!’ but it wasn’t long before Munchetty delivered another blunder, forgetting the name of the hit crime series inspired by Lynda’s most famous book.
‘In the book, when you have the forensic expert come in who runs the team and has this history, there is a little bit of discomfort in terms of how the team responds,’ Naga begins.
‘When you were writing for, erm… Oh my goodness, how have I just…’
Co-host Charlie then chimes in with the correct name: ‘Prime Suspect,’ and Naga says, relieved: ‘Prime Suspect – thank you.’
Still undeterred, Lynda continues with the inspiration behind her book, saying: ‘What I loved in The Scene Of The Crime is he’s not dead – he’s alive! The victim is alive!’
But Munchetty scrambles to prevent Lynda from revealing the central surprise, speaking over her to say: ‘Don’t spoil it! Don’t spoil it, don’t spoil it because there are, as usual, many twists.’
Frantically segueing into another line of enquiry, Munchetty asks awkwardly: ‘Do you ever – I avoid, often, crime and murder novels because I get squeamish.’
‘But this isn’t too much for me. I can only speak for myself. Do you ever think there’s a limit? You wouldn’t go too far in terms of description and squeamishness?’
‘A limit of the horror?’ clarified Lynda, before answering: ‘I think there is my own limit.
‘We can give a name to virtually every reason for a crime, you can say they had a horrible background, an abused child, or psychological problems, but there is no-one that can ever say ‘This is what made evil’. We haven’t got it.
Charlie then asked Lynda: ‘We’re almost out of time. Do you think you would have made a good detective yourself?’
But Lynda insisted she would be ‘dreadful’, adding: ‘I talk too much and I think I’d get awfully upset.’
Fans of the show weren’t impressed, and rushed to social media to express their disapproval.
One wrote: ‘Never, ever let Charlie ad-lib. F***ing disaster every single time.’
Another said: ‘Who needs to go to the Edinburgh Festival when you get a clown show every day in Salford on BBC Breakfast?’
