Days before actor and producer Noel Clarke received a BAFTA honor, there were 20 anonymous emails sent into the British organization detailing alleged misconduct.
Clarke appeared noticeably “on edge” as he accepted his award. What has been presumed as nerves may have a different cause other than being overwhelmed. The Guardian reports that prior to receiving the award, 20 messages were sent to the BAFTA organization detailing Clarke’s alleged misconduct including verbal abuse, as well as bullying and sexual harassment.
BAFTA stated that they were aware of the allegations, but the organization has no duty to investigate, with the report stating, “Lawyers for BAFTA said the charity had no duty to investigate Clarke, but, in any case, it was never given any information to enable it to do so and at no stage was it in a position where it could even begin to consider investigating. We take this matter extremely seriously. We encouraged the people who contacted us to report the matter to the appropriate authorities and also engaged an independent victim support expert to provide them with professional advice, and that support remains in place. We will continue to review this matter, and should any allegations be substantiated we will take appropriate action.”
After The Guardian’s article, BAFTA said, “In light of the Guardian’s piece, which for BAFTA provided for the first time detailed accounts outlining serious allegations regarding Noel Clarke’s conduct, we have immediately suspended the award and Noel Clarke’s membership of BAFTA until further notice.”
Two of the women are Gina Powell and Jahannah James. In 2014, Powell was hired as a producer for Clarke. He allegedly informed her of his hard drive full of sexually explicit pictures, including that of James, which he showed Powell.
The report states, “The naked audition had taken place more than four years previously, for the film Legacy. Powell was able to describe the exact haircut James had at that time – her hair is usually long and blond, but after a “hair disaster” she had cropped it short and returned to her natural brown.”
“James recalls Clarke had talked her into auditioning for the role,” it continues. She had been hesitant. She was only 23 and fresh out of drama school. But Clarke persuaded her, explaining that the naked audition wouldn’t be filmed; an email from her agent confirmed this agreement. ‘I was told 100% it was not going to be on camera’ James says. As she understood it, the naked audition was purely to check she could do the scene and wasn’t going to ‘bottle it’ on the day.”
Powell also spoke of the harassment she endured with Clarke citing that Clarke allegedly told her he had planned “to f**k her and fire” before he decided to keep her on.
Clarke has since released a statement about the allegations (which he denies) himself. It reads, “I vehemently deny any sexual misconduct or criminal wrongdoing. Recent reports however have made it clear to me that some of my actions have affected people in ways I did not intend or realise. To those individuals, I am deeply sorry. I will be seeking professional help to educate myself and change for the better.”
Many of the actor’s projects have been pulled and his management has dropped him.