UPDATE: Since writing this piece both the Prince's Trust and the RVS have confirmed that they will no longer be working with Phillip Schofield
You can't have missed the stories in the last week about Phillip Schofield. He was hailed for coming out by Stonewall in 2020. He initially said he was leaving This Morning but later left ITV and admitted to lying to ITV, his agents (which terminated their relationship), family and friends, about an affair with a junior staff member.
A difficult time for all, but also the charity sector. For example the Prince's Trust, which supports vulnerable young people.
It has been widely shared that he first met the young person when they were only 15. That person went on to work on This Morning. It has been said that nothing of an intimate nature happened until the individual was 20 and whilst Phillip said the relationship was 'unwise' there was nothing illegal.
I am not a safeguarding expert. Whilst at the NSPCC I wrote the safeguarding policy as it pertains to celebrities made possible by drawing on the enormous experience and advice of its amazing child protection experts. There is an obvious concern that a young person might be in awe of someone who had been on their TV screens their entire life.
As Gaby Hinslif said in a Guardian op ed, this is a complicated issue (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/29/phillip-schofield-scandal-workplace-metoo-this-morning-itv). You have an older star coming out late in life and a, possibly, star struck young staff member but would it have been different if it had been a male female relationship?
So what do charities do now? Phillip didn't attend the Prince's Trust awards, despite being widely reported as an Ambassador. He is not listed on the charity's website, except in historical news releases.
Celebrities can be vital in gaining media coverage and influencing donors. However it is important to remember that you are aligning two brands and the fall of one can do damage to the other. Just look at the ending of the commercial partnership between Adidas and Kanye West when Kanye allegedly said something against Adidas's values.
There have been many people who have fallen from grace. I joined the NSPCC post Jimmy Savile, hence ensuring that the charity added a celebrity safeguarding policy. When someone meets a celebrity there is a power imbalance and it's important that the person managing high profile supporters is completely conversant with this.
So what do you do when a supporter gets negative headlines?
Firstly don’t panic and act in haste but look carefully at what they are accused or convicted of doing. Does being over the drink drive limit or speeding mean they are not still able to help? If you're an alcohol charity then yes but if you are a medical research charity then possibly not. I have also had a celebrity charged with a significant drug offence who was subsequently found not guilty.
Secondly, if there is a conflict, the CEO needs to flag to trustees that the relationship is no longer viable. Review every interaction from media releases to events attended to ensure no one was put at risk. An honest and careful conversation needs to be had with the celebrity and/or their agent.
There is an historical story of a celeb who was interviewed by police about inappropriate child images. They were found completely innocent. During that period the celebrity wasn't invited to a big charity event they attended every year. As a result of the way the charity handled the situation the person walked away.
An agreed statement needs to be drafted, where possible. Proactive statements are not recommended. That just drags you into the story but you need to prepared.
Thirdly, like Phillip's agent, immediately remove them from your website as a Patron or Ambassador. Don't try and remove things that are already in the public domain, like media releases. We all know that anything that was on the internet is there forever and you can't remove every person's Instagram or Twitter post of a celebrity meeting them at your high profile charity event.
Fourthly, have due diligence processes in place. For some that will just be Google, at others there will be access to more sophisticated tools like Nexis Lexis. At one cancer charity I was tasked to find chefs. I found that one chef was a Patron of a pro smoking lobby. Needless to say smoking and cancer are not great partners. You won't always be able to spot problems. You can reduce your risk by doing checks in advance but you can't eliminate it.
No charity could have predicted this story but being prepared is vital. If an internal ITV investigation found no substance to the rumours then there is no way a charity can be expected to know. It's how you handle it that's important.
