Chris Moyles and Charlotte Church clip resurfaces following Brand sentencing

Nation Cymru staff

A clip of Chris Moyles offering to take Charlotte Church’s virginity when she was 15 has resurfaced online following the sentencing of Russell Brand for rape and sexual assault.

The clip has been shared widely online in the light of ongoing news reports around Brand, who has been jailed for 10-and-a-half years for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers during his rise to international fame.

Brand, now 51, abused his celebrity status to prey on women and was convicted after a trial at Southwark Crown Court of abuse against four victims.

In the clip from a 2007 episode of Church’s talk show, The Charlotte Church Show, the singer brought up the exchange, which took place on a live Radio One broadcast in 2002 when Moyles was 27.

Moyles, who presented the drive-time show, was commenting on a Sun newspaper countdown to Church’s 16th birthday before he offered to take Church’s virginity.

On The Charlotte Church Show five years later, Moyles begins to tell the story, saying “Well, once you were young-” before Church interrupts and requests he clarify “How young?”

Moyles continues “You were under 16,” before the then-20-year-old Church says, “I’d call that 15.”

“Yeah, 15.” The radio DJ replies as the crowd laughs. “But then you were gonna be 16, and I offered to take your virginity.”

Asked what “exactly” he had said to Church at the time, Moyles responds with a smile: “I actually think this is actually very sweet. I offered to lead Charlotte through the forest of her own sexuality.”

“A 15-year-old girl,” Charlotte says, looking to the audience and shaking her head.

“No, you were 16,” Moyles interjects and, when Charlotte corrects him, adds jokingly: “Well, you told me you were 16.”

Chris Moyles first began presenting the BBC Radio One show in 1997, and left the position in 2012. He currently presents The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, which is owned by Global Media & Entertainment Limited.

A BBC spokesperson told the Daily Mail: “‘Chris Moyles hasn’t worked at the BBC for more than 14 years now. However, there are no circumstances in which similar language or behaviour would be tolerated by the BBC today.”

Some social media users have agreed with this sentiment, with one writing: “Moyles’ comments, outrageous as they are, are very much of their time. A time when there was boobs on page 3 and ‘lads mags’ were all the rage. It’s only now people look back in disgust?”

Moyles received condemnation following the 2002 show from the Broadcasting Standards Commission for exceeding “acceptable boundaries for the time of transmission”.

The renewed attention comes in the wake of Brand’s sentencing.

One of his fans told how she was raped as a 21-year-old by Brand in 2009 at his luxury London home, while female staffers at Channel 4, MTV, and Capital Radio came forward to reveal how they had been sexually assaulted by the TV star.

On Monday, Mr Justice Bennathan slammed Brand’s “staggering arrogance” as he sentenced him to 10-and-a-half years in prison for rape and three counts of sexual assault.

The judge told Brand: “About 20 years ago Russell Brand, you were becoming famous, you were clever, and in many people’s eyes you were funny and charismatic.

“You had also become a sexual predator.”

The judge said Brand’s “status protected you” until in 2023 journalists from the Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches first exposed a litany of sexual misconduct, leading to women making complaints to police.

He said Brand harboured a “casual arrogant disregard to any woman’s right to say no to you”, while his fame meant he believed “you could act when you liked and how you liked”.

The judge said the evidence in the case also showed that Brand’s entourage during his celebrity heyday had “indulged your dreadful behaviour”.

Calls for investigation

Despite the initial exchange between Moyles and Church taking place 24 years ago, some have called for an internal investigation “to show how the BBC allowed this to happen without punishment for decades,” as a commenter put it.

“Chris Moyles should have been binned the second she raised that and he confirmed it on national TV,” another added.

Church reflected on Moyles’ behaviour, and her treatment by the tabloids, in Channel 4’s 2023 show Kathy Burke: Growing Up.

She said: “There was just this shift where I sort of became fair game…That ‘lads, lads, lads’ culture was prominent, it was very simplistic, it was unashamed. It was just out there and everybody knew what it was.”

The Charlotte Church Show segment with Moyles is available to watch on YouTube.