MasterChef presenter John Torode says allegation he used racist language upheld in report
The report, led by law firm Lewis Silkin, found .
There were also two standalone allegations made against other people.
In a statement posted on his Instagram page, Torode said he was one of those people, but added that he had "no recollection of the incident" and said he "did not believe that it happened".
He commented: "Following publication of the executive summary of the investigation into Gregg Wallace while working on MasterChef, I am aware of speculation that I am one of the two other individuals against whom an allegation has been upheld.
"For the sake of transparency, I confirm that I am the individual who is alleged to have used racial language on one occasion.
"The allegation is that I did so sometime in 2018 or 2019, in a social situation, and that the person I was speaking with did not believe that it was intended in a malicious way and that I apologised immediately afterwards.
"I have absolutely no recollection of any of this, and I do not believe that it happened.
"However, I want to be clear that I've always had the view that any racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment. I'm shocked and saddened by the allegation as I would never wish to cause anyone any offence."
Wallace, 60, said he was "deeply sorry" for causing any distress, and never set out to "harm or humiliate".
While the majority of the substantiated claims related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, one related to "unwanted physical contact", and three were about being "in a state of undress".
The report said the number of sustained allegations made Wallace's return to MasterChef "untenable".
In a statement on Monday, Wallace said "some of (his) humour and language missed the mark", but he said, after nearly 20 years on MasterChef, "I now see that certain patterns, shaped by traits I've only recently begun to understand, may have been misread".
Wallace, who said a "late autism diagnosis" had helped him understand how he is "perceived", criticised the BBC, saying the corporation had left him "exposed to trial by media".
"This has been brutal," he said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Black Sabbath Founding Member Tony Iommi Gives the Final Word on the Possibility of Future Shows
Tony Iommi says Black Sabbath's Back to the Beginning concert will absolutely be the end. The legendary guitarist, who will reunite with bandmates Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward at Birmingham's Villa Park on July 5 for their first live performance in 20 years, told BBC Midlands Today that there is no possibility that the iconic rock band will ever play together in the future. "We're never going to do this again, this will be it," Iommi, 77, confirmed. 'We're all nervous really,' the rocker admitted of the band's highly publicized final show. "This is totally different from anything else we've done, you know we've played for 300,000 people, but this is nerve-wracking." "People are coming from all over the world, and I just can't absorb it,' Iommi added. 'It's been tough, because none of us are getting younger, and to stand there for a couple of hours is tiring.' Iommi previously told Music Week he was worried about how the band's final show would go amid lead singer Ozzy Osbourne's struggles with Parkinson's disease. "The worrying thing for me is the unknown,' he said in the interview, per Louder. 'We don't know what's going to happen. …It's a nerve-wracking thing, as we'll be touching on some stuff that we haven't done for a long time,' he added. Iommi also explained that the band only agreed to reunite for the Back to the Beginning concert because it would be a charity show. "It's absolutely the end,' he said of Black Sabbath, which he formed in 1968 with Osbourne, Butler, and Ward. 'There's no way we could go out and do a tour.' Iommi's confirmation comes after longtime Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde expressed hope that Black Sabbath could tour again in the future with some accommodations for the singer's illness. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Wylde predicted that concert promoters will be all over the Back to the Beginning gig. 'I'm sure the promoters are going to go, 'Wow, that was pretty amazing. Let's do another world tour right now,'' Wylde, 58, predicted. 'If they do this Sabbath thing and it sounds amazing, and Ozzy sings great, and the band sounds amazing, and the only difference is Oz is just sitting down [on a throne]…Why not, right? You know every promoter's just got their fingers crossed on this one."Black Sabbath Founding Member Tony Iommi Gives the Final Word on the Possibility of Future Shows first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 5, 2025
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Soundgarden Just Revealed Why They Skipped Ozzy's Black Sabbath Farewell Show
The former members of Soundgarden are explaining their absence from Back to the Beginning, the epic Black Sabbath farewell show fronted by Ozzy Osbourne on July 5. In a post shared to Instagram on July 13, the grunge rock icons, who disbanded in 2018 following the death of founding member Chris Cornell, explained why they were not at the Back to the Beginning despite a previous teaser that the surviving members would reunite for the show at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. 'We are very grateful to Tony, Ozzy, Geezer, and Bill, as well as Sharon Osbourne and music director, Tom Morello for the honor and invitation to Soundgarden to perform at the Back to the Beginning festival!' the Soundgarden musicians captioned a throwback photo that featured Osbourne and Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. 'We are super bummed and regret that we were unable to coordinate the schedules of our individual and collective projects to attend and contribute to the festival. The warmth, love and support from the Black Sabbath team has been a continuing source of encouragement and strength throughout our career.' The message also included congratulations to Black Sabbath and a thank you for the inspiration they provided for 'scores of other bands, musicians and songwriters.' In May, The Guardian reported that Sharon Osbourne confirmed that the surviving members of Soundgarden would appear on the Back to the Beginning bill that included Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Alice in Chains, Anthrax, and many more. But not everyone who was invited to perform made it to the show. In an interview with Metal Hammer in June, Sharon Osbourne revealed she got into a dispute with one of the bands that had been previously announced for Back to the Beginning. 'I had a huge, huge to-do with a manager over this celebration for Ozzy and Sabbath,' she told the outlet. 'And it was probably the worst way I've felt in years. … And he's now going around making up bulls--- lies because I threw his band off the bill.' Weeks later, she elaborated, telling Billboard she was forced to remove the unanmed band from the lineup because they 'wanted to make a profit' from the charity event. 'And it's not the time to make a profit,' she said. 'After the show, I'll let everybody know who it was. I think people will be shocked.' Soundgarden isn't the first band to address an absence from Back to the Beginning. Originally announced guest Wolfgang Van Halen told Detroit's Meltdown on 101 WRIF that he had a scheduling conflict after initially agreeing to the performance in Birmingham, England. "I, unfortunately, had to back out because the Creed tour [with my Mammoth as support] starts the day after, and I [wouldn't] be able to pull it off — unfortunately,' Van Halen explained in late June. On July 11, Motley Crue founding member Nikki Sixx told fans on X that his band would have liked to have been part of the rock festival but were 'having health issues within the band." Sixx also posted a congratulatory message the day after the show to note that Osbourne played a pivotal role in Motley Crue's success with the joint Shout at the Devil tour in Just Revealed Why They Skipped Ozzy's Black Sabbath Farewell Show first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 14, 2025
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mister Terrific Actor Edi Gathegi Says He Was 'Assured' His Killed Off X-Men Character Would Return in Future Films, but Well-Received Superman Role Is More Than Making Up for It
Edi Gathegi is wowing audiences as the scene-stealing Mister Terrific in James Gunn's Superman, but his big-screen superhero journey got off to a troubling start. Gathegi played Darwin, the short-lived mutant in 2011's X-Men: First Class (which, coincidentally, starred Lex Luthor actor Nicholas Hoult as Hank / Beast). In the film, Darwin is able to reactively evolve (hence the name), but is easily killed by Sebastian Shaw. X-Men fans were surprised at Darwin's fate, given the character's established invulnerability in the comics. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gathegi recalled how he had serious concerns about the plot of X-Men: First Class, which he expressed to his agent. 'I was in London after I'd just been offered the role, and they gave me a couple of hours to read the script to determine whether or not I wanted to do it,' Gathegi explained. 'So I read it, and I called my agents to say, 'Hey, listen, I have a problem with the fact that this character is the only Black character in the film aside from Zoë Kravitz's character. I am also the only mutant who meets an untimely demise halfway through the film.' It was 2009 at the time, and I was like, 'Killing the Black guy first is so played out. I can't do this.'' Gathegi said that following talks, he was 'assured' that Darwin's death as we see it in X-Men: First Class was part of a long-term storytelling plan that would have seen his character brought back to life in future films in the franchise. 'So there were conversations that happened, and then they assured us that it was essential for the storytelling in order to motivate the mutants to avenge my [character's] death,' he said. 'They also fully intended to bring my character back as they do in the comics. [Darwin] can't die; he regenerates. So we held onto the hope that they would honor their word.' This, however, did not happen, and Darwin failed to return in any of the subsequent Fox X-Men films (Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, or the most recent X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix). This, Gathegi said, came as a 'surprise.' '... I thought that I would be returning to that franchise over and over again,' he said. 'I thought that there was potential for a bigger future. It was actually a surprise to never get the call to suit up again.' Then: '... the way that they handled my character was a fumble.'Now, Gathegi is philosophical about his history with the X-Men, saying 'I've moved well beyond that.' '... when I didn't come back for X-Men: Apocalypse, I just knew it was done,' he explained. 'So I didn't really look back, to be honest with you. I speak about it when people bring it up, but I made peace with this years ago.' Fast-forward 14 years and Gathegi looks set for a long-term, high-profile role in James Gunn's rebooted DC Universe. After wowing critics and audiences as Mister Terrific in Superman (which got off to a big start at the box office), James Gunn is reportedly considering a Mister Terrific spinoff TV series. The expectation is that we will see more of this character, especially after that post credits scene. For Gathegi, his experience with Superman couldn't be more different than X-Men: First Class. 'The pendulum has swung in the complete opposite direction,' he said. 'With X-Men: First Class, the message that I received as an actor and as a man of color in this world is you can be the most powerful mutant in the world and they'll never let you reach your full potential. Whereas with Mister Terrific in Superman, the message that I'm receiving is you can be one of the most intelligent characters in the universe, and you can make a difference. You can help save the world. It's a different level of conversation.' Check out IGN's Superman review to find out what we think, and then head over to our Superman Ending and Post-Credits Explained to find out what it all means. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ or confidentially at wyp100@