Things have gone from bad to extremely worse for Chris Evans, who announced his resignation from Top Gear earlier today. That resignation came mere hours after London police confirmed Evans is being investigated for a reported sexual assault dating back to the 1990s.
The UK’s Telegraph says London Metropolitan Police confirmed a woman made a report to officers on May 23, days before Top Gear returned to the air, about a “non-recent sexual assault” related to “incidents in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s.”
From the story:
Evans hosted Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast between 1992 and 1994, with the programme airing live from a cottage in Bow, located within the east London borough.
In a statement, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “An allegation of non-recent sexual assault was made to police on May 23.
“The allegation was made by a woman against a man, and relates to incidents in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s.
“There have been no arrests and no person has been interviewed under caution.”
No other details have been released. But news website Heat Street this year published a series of stories about past allegations made against Evans, including that he exposed himself to staff on the Channel 4 show The Big Breakfast, that he repeatedly groped a female former colleague, and that a Top Gear executive producer stepped down last year after challenging his behavior. Evans has denied these claims and said they were part of a “witch hunt.”
Also from that story, Evans apparently joked about exposing himself:
In an interview with the Sunday Times in 2005, Evans admitted his penchant for exposing himself at work.
The newspaper reported that Evans “frequently exposed himself at the offices of Ginger Media Group, which owned Virgin Radio and television shows such as TFI Friday. He would interrupt meetings by standing up to pull down his tracksuit bottoms to reveal that he was sexually aroused.”
At the time, Evans told the newspaper: “If you get your willy out, it’s the funniest thing in the world. Everybody laughs, everyone of our generation. I wouldn’t do it in front of my mum, for example. Girls love it; boys -‘Oh, I can’t believe you did that’. It also takes the night to a new level. I actually haven’t done it for a while. But I will do it again.”
It’s not immediately clear whether these allegations and the investigation led to Evans’ departure from the BBC car show, but it’s hard to imagine the network wanting to keep him around amid all of that.