Pink News has been raising red flags for years. I know from personal experience.

Journalists should report the news, not become the news. That’s the golden rule of reportage. 

Yet Benjamin Cohen — the founder of PinkNews — must’ve missed that memo because he and his husband, Anthony James, have been accused of sexual assault and bullying in an explosive new BBC documentary.

The film, entitled PinkNews: Behind Closed Doors, interviews 33 people who worked at the company between 2017 and 2024. Many accuse Cohen of “creepy,” “sleazy,” and misogynistic behavior—including asking female members of staff to act as surrogates for him.

Meanwhile, James is accused of sexually propositioning an employee and kissing a junior colleague who appeared too drunk to consent.

The claims are all substantiated by a myriad of compelling evidence, including written complaints, private emails and WhatsApp messages sharing staff members’ concerns. There are also doctors’ records referring to stress attributed to the work environment at PinkNews.

Naturally, Cohen and James have denied the claims, but how much is their denial worth?

Cohen certainly has an interesting backstory with the truth. In 2001, he claimed his company, CyberBritain, was earning £12,000 per month. In reality, documents submitted to Companies House showed it had a total yearly profit of £165.

Another time, when he first started out, he claimed to be working from an elaborate and first-class rented office space. In reality, he was working from a box room in his parents’ home. 

His professional ethics have also raised eyebrows. In November 2000, two weeks after Apple lodged its UK trademark application for the term ‘iTunes’, Cohen’s company registered the iTunes.co.uk domain name and redirected it to a music search engine. 

Cohen’s actions were considered to be “abusive” by the independent arbiter, Nominet, and his company was required to transfer the domain name to Apple.

Then there were my own first-hand experiences of him.

These all began when I joined a newspaper called The Pink Paper. Founded in 1987, it was a free publication covering all the gay stories ignored by the mainstream media. Author Armistead Maupin once told me it was his go-to news source when in England.

However, by the time I became its News Editor in 2008, Cohen already had a vendetta against it. Apparently, he’d applied for an editorial job but had been unsuccessful. In a fit of righteous indignation, he’s said to have started PinkNews in revenge. That’s why the names are so similar — Cohen supposedly did this to lure advertisers who might confuse PinkNews with its long-established, and award-winning, rival. 

At the time, Pink Paper bosses almost sued over this, but decided against it.

Sadly, from this point onwards, Cohen seemed to become emboldened in his arrogance and entitlement. 

For example, there were several times when I broke a story before he did. Angered by this, he or his underlings would call my landline with threats of lawfare. Similar calls would also go to my managers in an attempt to get me fired.

I’d then be forced to compile evidence proving my innocence. Yet Cohen would never apologise or admit he was wrong. 

In the end, it became something of a running joke in the company.

Other times, if Pink Paper and PinkNews both ran the same story simultaneously, his staff would regularly accuse me of plagiarism. In reality, our stories were the same press release. 

Then there were the media events. Chasing the same stories, we frequently found ourselves attending the same award ceremonies or press conferences. When this happened, he always made a point of being condescending and patronising. Sometimes, he was totally vile.

I’d let it fly, mainly because I pitied his terrible dress sense (he’d wear hot-pink suits), but I’d always feel sympathy for his staff. After all, I’d heard all of the horror stories, and knew their environment was considered toxic.

Eventually, I left The Pink Paper for pastures new.  

But he never quite forgot about his dislike for me. In fact, more than seven years after my exit, his site published a hit piece about me in 2019. I can only assume the order came directly from him.

In light of all this, I can’t help but believe his accusers. 

PinkNews has long been raising red flags for Cohen’s behavior. Now is a golden opportunity to act on them – once and for all.