Exec Behind Mohamed Al Fayed Exposé Says He Is “Reluctant To Point Finger” At ‘The Crown’ Over Positive Portrayal Of Disgraced Business Mogul
EXCLUSIVE: With the Mohamed Al Fayed exposé generating headlines this week, the disgraced business mogul’s portrayal as a mild-mannered matchmaker in The Crown, which landed Salim Daw a BAFTA nomination, has been in the spotlight.
But the EP behind the BBC’s Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods has said he is “reluctant to point a finger” at The Crown over choosing to portray him in this way, positing that The Crown is “a drama, not a current affairs program” – a theme that has repeatedly come up with regard Netflix’s now-ended smash royal series.
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More than 20 women have accused Al Fayed – who died last year – of sexual assault via the BBC exposé, five of whom say he raped them. In the doc, a number of his victims say that they were emboldened to speak out after watching The Crown and growing angry at how Al Fayed was portrayed.
“The women were upset and it was a factor in them coming forward,” said Mike Radford. He pointed out that Al Fayed obituaries “barely mentioned” the pre-existing allegations, while he was also given a platform to come across in a jovial way via appearances on the likes of Da Ali G Show.
Al Fayed had faced allegations of sexual assault for decades and was previously interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan Police but Radford got wind that more serious rape accusations were swirling via his relationship with TV producer Keaton Stone, who appears in the doc and whose wife says Al Fayed sexually assaulted and attempted to rape her on multiple occasions.
Radford’s aims were two-fold: he wanted to “demonstrate that this conduct was of the most serious nature, dispensing with the idea that nothing had been proven beyond sexual harassment and sexual assault,” and he wanted “to prove that Harrods themselves bore some responsibility.”
The former was achieved when the women came forward accusing Al Fayed of rape, and the latter is in process, with Harrods yesterday saying it is investigating whether any of its current staff were “directly or indirectly involved” in the abuse.
“There are serious questions for Harrods to answer relating to the level of knowledge the directors had while Mohamed Al Fayed owned the business,” said Radford, who added that he takes heart from the department store’s statement saying it had “failed the women.” “This goes beyond the conduct of an individual and goes to the guardrails placed on anyone in a corporate environment.”
While former employees note in the documentary that Al Fayed’s lesser but nonetheless serious crimes were an ‘open secret’, Radford stressed that the Egyptian billionaire should not in any way have the responsibility taken from his shoulders due to those around him choosing not to speak out.
“The main reason it didn’t come out is because he was a frightening person with lots of money who put in place structures,” said Radford, who had a stint working at the fabled British department store as a teen. “He intimidated people. It all comes back to him. He is the person.”
Harrods current ownership has apologized to the victims and said “the Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010.”
“Changing the impunity”
Radford has made docs about Al Fayed, Andrew Tate and Tim Westwood, the latter of whom is the subject of a BBC review into his conduct.
He said his mission is “trying to change the impunity that certain powerful men feel that they can act with.”
“Every story that comes out like this can help that to happen and that is why we have to keep doing these,” he added. “I hope we are going through a process of changing the way people behave and the way powerful men behave.”
Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods is directed by Erica Gornall (Ghislaine Maxwell: Making of a Monster). Radford (Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power; Andrew Tate: The Man Who Groomed the World?) is executive producer and the producer is Cassie Cornish-Trestrail. The consultant is Keaton Stone. Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods is on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on BBC Select in the U.S.
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