Tom Jones says he faced sexual harassment in the music industry

Tom Jones has said sexual abuse is widespread in the music industry, and talked about the harassment he faced in the early days of his career.

Jones was discussing the Harvey Weinstein allegations with a reporter from BBC 5 Live’s Afternoon Edition when he mentioned an incident from early in his career, which he said made him feel terrible.

During the interview, also broadcast this morning on Radio 4’s Today programme, reporter Colin Paterson asked if the singer thought allegations similar to those against Weinstein could surface in the music industry. “Things have always happened in the music industry as well,” said Jones. “There’s been people complaining about publicists and different things that they’ve been expected to do to get a record contract, just like they’d do to get a film contract.”

Asked whether he had ever “had anyone try it on”, Jones said: “At the beginning, yes, there were a few things like that. “What’s tried on women is tried on men as well.”

When asked whether he was able to tell anyone, the veteran singer said: “Yeah, but it wasn’t bad [...] Somebody tried to pull. It was a question, and I said no thank you.”