church lee, was one of six people aboard the blue origin commercial spacecraft that made a ten minute trip from rural texas. now on bbc news, now on bbc news — for decades, the world's most famous male bbc news, porn star, ronjeremy, allegedly groped, assaulted and raped women. ginger banks, one of the first adult performers to shine a spotlight on ronjeremy�*s behaviour, speaks about her struggle to get the industry to take action. and a warning that this programme contains sexual content and some upsetting scenes. i want to tell you about a man called ronjeremy. he would probably say that he's the greatest porn star who ever lived. he's starred in more than 2000 adult films, and he's also kind of a mainstream celebrity. the one and only ronjeremy... it's ronjeremy! ron jeremy, very famous pornographic thespian. ronjeremy, i am your biggest fan, it is an honour... and now, he has been accused of rape and sexual assault by dozens of women, stretching back decades. ronjeremy has been indicted on 33 counts, among them rape and other sexual assault charges. now, ronjeremy has maintained his innocence all of these allegations... i want to tell you about how he was arrested and how he came to be in prison awaiting trial. my name is ginger banks. i have been involved in the sex work industry for going on 12 years now. we play little zen, gordon... i have done ten porn scenes on professional porn sets and like, over 200 of my own. this is my plaque for reaching 100,000 subscribers on pornhub. these are my awards that i keep in my closet. this is the best sex scene that i won for my very first professional boy—girl scene, and this is my community advocate award that i won from the company that i had to fight the hardest to get ronjeremy banned from. i first met ronjeremy at the avn awards, and he walked by and like, put his hand on my ass in myjeans. i told some of my friends in the industry about it, and they were like, "oh, yeah, that's just what he does". i thought this was kind of strange, so i started looking around online and i found tons of videos of him touching women in public, and it wasn't clear how they felt about it. i thought it was absolutely disgusting. somebody has to call this guy out. it became obvious to me that he was somebody that needed to be prevented from having access to future victims, and so i wanted to create a youtube video that made itjust as obvious to anybody who watched this video. there have been allegations of rape and sexual assault against ronjeremy that go back as far as august 2003. how does ronjeremyjust being a porn star give him the right to assault these females? i got a lot of hate from releasing this youtube video, but it also led to more women coming forward. i don't really know if i told anyone, i don't think i even did because i felt like it wouldn't have mattered, and nobody really would have cared. also, when things like this happen to you and you're a porn star, it's already just assumed that it it's supposed to happen to you because you're a porn star. my name is tana lee, and i am a retired adult actress, and i know ronjeremy because he raped me in 2015 before i everjoined the adult industry. so, i knew who ronjeremy was before i met him, i knew that he was the king of all porn. i came to la and one of my friends was doing some kind of radio show. it was like, "oh, i'm doing a radio show if you would "like to come, ronjeremy is going to be on it, "and it would be a great opportunity for you to get in porn". so, i was like, "oh, my god, so cool, great." so, ijust remember ubering to that house, walked in, ron jeremy was already sitting by himself, and then immediately — like, i don't think i'd even talked to him for like one or two minutes, he was like, "stand up, let me see, turn around." like, looking at my butt and stuff, and then proceeds to pull down my pants, and i'm like, no, pulling away in the video and everything, telling him no, but like...yeah. and my friend is, like, filming it and encouraging me to do it, and like... it was just kind of bleep, | now when i think about it, at the time i didn't give | a- and i was like, just kind of whatever, but, also, i didn't even know who was at that house, you know? i hadn't even seen who they were interviewing down below. what if its four more dudes, and i am up here, you know, complaining about ron jeremy? like, that's not going to go over well to me. so, i'mjust like being playful, ha—ha, 0k, but you can't be playful with ron, he doesn't take no as an answer. if that happened to my future child or anyone i knew, i would call it rape. so, i guess because it's me i think that it's like...not... i think as a sexual woman or as a sex worker, you're kind of like...abused into believing that you deserve less. like, you're constantly told by so many, like, parts of society that you don't deserve the same things that other women deserve, that you kind of start to believe them yourself. what people don't realise is ron is actually the most mellow guy in the world. all you got to do is say, "stop it, ronnie!" i have seen it, he will stop instantly. i don't think enough people were saying, "stop it, ronnie." my name isjim powers. i direct adult movies in the los angeles area, and i used to be ronjeremy�*s cameraman in the 1990s. i am shooting a thing called cuckold sessions today, and you're going to come into the typical porn set as they exist in porn valley. this is the perfect house for porn. this place has shot thousands and thousands of porn. i have shot people here, i have shot people in the jacuzzi, in the gym, zillions of spa scenes right here. i'mjenniferwhite and i'm here to shoot some content for my website. first time i met ron was on set. i know him pretty well, i would say. i wasn't there for any of the allegations that were made against him, so i can't really speak on that _ but my personal experience with him — is he a perv? yes, 100%. is he touchy—feely? yes, he is. but if you you were to say to him, like, "ron, not right now," he would stop immediately. i mean, it isjust ron, that's how he is, but at the time, should he be held accountable for his actions? yes, absolutely. everybody should. i kind of view porn sets as more of like the wwe of our industry. like, you know, like, i do have fun, it is great, i do have fun, it's great, but it is a performance. this is what porn, like, professional porn wants you to look like when you go onset. back then, i had no idea how to set my boundaries and stick to them, and i was willing to conform, i was willing to change the way i looked, the way i acted so that other people would like me. yeah, this was that day on set where it was a threesome scene, and the scene progressively got rougher — he ended up choking us both until we both blacked out, it was a terrible day, terrible aftermath of everybody at the company and everyone else being like, "well, you guys didn't say anything during the scene, so you know, it's your own fault," when in reality, like, scenes like that should be discussed beforehand. like, if you're going to choke someone out or hit them or bite them until you leave bite marks on them, you should probably discuss that before it happens. the power in the industry is really shifting from studios and directors to performers themselves. my name is ej dickon, i'm a senior staff writer at rolling stone, and in 2017 i published an in—depth investigation about the sexual assault allegations against ronjeremy. ifirst heard rumours about ronjeremy and his behaviour in 2015, 2016, and the response sort of across the board from the mainstream was... "well, who cares, you know, he's a porn star, why is this surprising that he is assaulting women?" there was a very wide range of allegations against ronjeremy are ranging from groping, grabbing somebody�*s breasts at a convention without their consent, to rape. i probably spoke to more than two dozen women who had allegations against ronjeremy. my main question was, how was this allowed to go on for so long? to be honest, i first started admitting that this was a rape when ginger banks came forward, because without ginger, there would be so many silent victims. we are approaching the condo complex where ron used to live. and i think he lived here up until he was charged. i was here probably three or four times. we would go swimming here and hang out with his tortoise, cherry. she's very cute. that was probably the highlight of coming here and... yeah, really nice on the outside, but pretty rotten on the inside. my name is alexis miller, and i used to consider ronjeremy to be a dear friend. intermittently, i've been in the industry for almost 14 years. about two months into my being in the adult industry, i got a call from my agent and he asked me if i would be interested in doing a film with ronjeremy. i said yes, i said, why not? iwas 20. he would have been probably around 50. we shot our scene. it was pretty uneventful. my friendship with ron jeremy commenced that day. we talked a lot on set, he was really down to earth. he was really funny. we became instant friends. the night that the attack occurred, i was there with some friends at the rainbow room. we were having a good time. i was walking towards the front of the restaurant, and in walks my old friend, ronjeremy. it had been probably three years since i had last seen him. we had maybe spoken on the phone a couple of times. things were fine at that point. "how have you been? "have you ever seen the kitchen before?" ron took me through the kitchen, and it's a long kitchen. there was one door left. and that door was the door to the bathroom. ron took my hand and he put it around his genitals. he then proceeded to...pull his pants down and push my head down at the same time. i froze. i didn't know what to do. but my response to him should have been a cue to not take it further. in the days after the attack, physically, i was sore. psychologically, i gaslighted myself. i told myself that there was no point in telling anybody, because who would believe me? at that point, i wasjust a 20—something porn star. you know, when we reach out to him for comment, he straight up said verbatim, "i am a groper. that's what i do," basically. almost that it was expected for him to be lecherous and manhandle women at these events. and i want to be clear that there were women who consented to that. there were women who would consent to sexual encounters with ron, or who would consent to have their breasts signed or their as is groped. or their asses groped. and that's fine. the key word here is consent. as i dug deeper into my reporting, i discovered that he had been called out a number of times. these allegations stemmed back decades in some cases, and there were police reports filed against him. but they never really... made it that far. i mean, it was incredibly stressful. i had a ten—month—old baby at the time and i was working a full—time job in addition to reporting out the story, and i would just spend hours and hours every night on the phone with survivors. ej's article was really well written, it was really well documented and researched, so that was one of the catalysts that we needed. the media has so much power and so much influence. once you get the media involved, sometimes the authorities take notice. my name is axel braun. i am the most awarded adult film director in history. i don't know if ron got more of a pass than other performers for handsiness. again, i am not somebody who ever saw that, but you know, this type of thing happens. i heard about this, i heard about most of this when all the accusations started to come out, but then again, i never really hung out at the rainbow with him. a lot of these alleged sexual assaults happened at the rainbow room. that was like his place where he went. the rainbow was very good to ron, they comped him tons of food, they let him stay there before and after. he never paid — they actually have a cover charge frequently. he never paid. his friends didn't pay, i didn't pay. rainbow was a good place and they were very good to ron. he took advantage of it. my name is moss criven. i was ronjeremy�*s personal assistant from 2002 until the day he was arrested injune of 2020. nobody spend more time with him than me. i told ron numerous times, i lost count, "just don't touch them." because especially as more and more things piled up in the media, i'm like, "ron, the way to avoid this is just "don't put your hands on them. "at the very least, unless you're in your home, "or their home. "don't do it in cars, don't do it in bathrooms. "don't put your hands on them." he never listened. he didn't want to hear, he didn't hear, hejust did what he wanted to do. as far as i know, what ron is accused of at the rainbow is the same stuff he's accused of at other locations. there's a private bathroom for staff right in the kitchen. it is tiny, its smaller than a broom closet. it's tiny, its smaller than a broom closet. it is so small you can barely fit one person in there. but he would... he's accused of taking women in there and sexually assaulting them. obviously, i was never in there when he did it, but i have seen him bring women back there countless times. he would grab them by the hand and lead them back there, and they would willingly go, he wouldn't have to pull them, he would hold their hand. but he's accused, i think, yeah, of assaulting women in that bathroom. i've been with ronjeremy at some of these places like the rainbow and i've seen people coming up to him left and right, women hitting on him. i've seen ronjeremy get pulled into the back by women before. what i think about the women making the allegations, i do think you have a good chunk of them are probablyjust in it for trying to get a pay—off. if you're showing up at some party and you're drunk at two or three in the morning, and ronjeremy is there, and you start flirting with him and you don't say no to ronjeremy, you're kind of also responsible for that. that's why people don't come forward. they feel like they deserve it and i absolutely felt like i deserved it. i continued to gaslight myself and i think part of me blocked it out on my own system for a while. i mean, ifound out that he had been, like, reported to the authorities multiple times, not only for rape, but groping people, and nothing had been done about it. i never expected him to be arrested, to be honest with you. ronjeremy has been indicted on 33 counts, among them rape and other sexual assault charges. prosecutors say the alleged victims range in age from 15 to 51, over a 23—year span. ronjeremy has maintained his innocence, all of these - allegations in the past, again his attorney not talking today. - he remains in custody, - and if he is convicted on even one or two of these charges, alex and marla, he is very i likely looking at spending the rest of his life behind bars. _ i think more people are going to come forward for sure. i think a lot of girls now are realising that being around jeremy violated their whole existence because he'sjust a creep. no matter what happens to ron, what he thrives on the most is attention. and i can tell you that the attention that he is receiving injail, and if he makes it to prison, that he will receive there, is not the type of attention that he wants. i think inside the porn industry, there has been a pendulum that has swung way too hard in the side of "men have all the power, men have all the influence". and i think it slowly came back, and that is where the reckoning within the industry happened, was that it was finally time for the women to be listened to. things are never going to be the same. hello. this week, we reach the midpoint of december, the festive season draws ever nearer, but the weather isn't going to be looking particularly wintry at all. if anything, it's set to be on the mild side, frost—free, and no signs of any snow in our forecast. sunday, potentially the warmest of the next seven days ahead. a south—westerly airstream carrying very mild air to all but the northernmost regions of the uk through sunday. this weather front marks the boundary between cooler air in the north and milder conditions coming in from the south, and it will push north through the day on sunday. quite wet for a time across northern ireland and northern england, rain into southern scotland by the afternoon, and then you can see to the south of that front, temperatures 13—111, maybe even the odd spot up to 15 degrees. rather more average temperatures for the far north of scotland. the centre of this low will roll through sunday night into monday. widespread gales for the northern and western isles. some showers chasing into the north of scotland, but the strength of the wind and the presence of the milder air means we stay frost—free into monday morning. temperatures in double figures to the south of the uk, the very mild air sitting to the south of this weather front here. so, through monday, we have a boundary across the uk, and that is an area of rain. quite wet at times across wales, and we'll see some of that rain creeping further east into england through the day. to the south, cloudy but mild, actually — temperatures again 13—14 degrees. further north, closer to average, but generally drier and brighter — highs of 8 or 9 across scotland and northern ireland. monday into tuesday, this frontal system starts to pull away towards the continent, but our next system starts to dry and push in from the atlantic, and that will hook us into another feed of milder air further south in the atlantic. we'll see quite strong winds across northernmost scotland, there'll be some rain here as well. cloud spilling further south, perhaps into northern england and northern ireland. but here, actually, the mildest weather on tuesday, above average temperatures of 11 degrees for belfast and glasgow. furthersouth, perhaps a little cooler, but it should be relatively dry. tuesday into wednesday, we keep a front snaking away to the north of the uk, but high pressure now is really going to start to build from the south, and that looks like it's our trend for the second half of the week. really trying to settle the weather down, killing off the winds. at this time of year, normally light winds would put us at risk at frost. because of the presence of mild air, we should have a mild start to wednesday. through the day across southern britain, brighter spells developing we're going to see some work across scotland and northern ireland continuing. 11 in aberdeen and glasgow. thursday, friday, here's that area of high pressure release urging across from the continent. —— release urging. exactly where that sits will govern where our winds come from. it looks like we could stay very much on the milder side. and start to pull in a slightly more continental feet of air, so if anything, the high will keep things as settled as we look towards next weekend. we may see our temperatures edging back a little through next saturday. but a pretty quiet story for the next seven days. this is bbc news. unless the government puts further restrictions in place, the uk faces a substantial wave of 0micron infections next month that might overwhelm the nhs — that's the stark warning from scientists. another 633 0micron cases are recorded in the last 2a hours — the uk's biggest dailyjump in 0micron infections so far. new rules on face masks, self—isolation and vaccine passports will be voted on by mps in the commons on tuesday — according to government sources. at least 70 people have been killed as a series of devastating