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Women’s safety campaigners are urging organisers to cancel Thirty Seconds to Mars’ upcoming UK concerts. The calls follow serious allegations of criminal sexual conduct against frontman Jared Leto. A BBC investigation published last week featured accounts from four women accusing the musician and actor of sexual assault and grooming. The alleged incidents reportedly took place across the 2000s and 2010s. At the time, the women were teenagers while Leto was in his 30s and 40s. He is now 54 years old and strongly denies all the allegations against him. Leto’s band is currently set to perform at two major UK arenas next April, in London and Manchester. Both the End Violence Against Women coalition and domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid have voiced concern over the shows going ahead. A Women’s Aid spokesperson told BBC Newsbeat it was troubling that concerts platforming an alleged abuser were still being planned. The charity urged organisers to prioritise safety over profit rather than continue giving such figures a stage. Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, echoed that sentiment. She said the issue ultimately comes down to prioritising people, particularly women and girls, over commercial interests. Walker described the continued sale of tickets for the London and Manchester shows as deeply worrying. She warned it could cause real distress among survivors of gender-based violence, who may see coverage of the allegations followed by business proceeding as usual. Thirty Seconds to Mars, known for hits like “The Kill” and “This Is War,” was formed by Leto and his brother in the late 1990s. The band has since grown into a major international touring act. A related BBC documentary features former band associates describing discomfort around how Leto interacted with teenage girls backstage. One alleges young girls were regularly invited to meet him after concerts and at private residences. Among the accusers is a former model who says she felt compelled to lie about her age when meeting Leto at 19. She alleges a disturbing comment from Leto during a private encounter that followed. In total, ten women spoke to the BBC documentary, with nine sharing their accounts publicly for the first time. Leto did not respond to the BBC’s initial questions but later issued a firm denial, calling the accusations completely false.

Doctor Bahu wrapped up last week, and while viewers were divided over the finale, star Kubra Khan had only warmth and gratitude for her team. In an Instagram reel posted on Wednesday, Kubra shared behind-the-scenes clips from filming. She explained she deliberately left out the show’s OST, since audiences had already heard it enough times. Instead, she said the experience reminded her of a line from Elton John’s “Your Song.” She described the mix of emotions as something both funny and hard to hide. She said Doctor Bahu carried a similar weight for her, tied not just to the script but to the entire set. She believes a good atmosphere on set makes half the work easier, and this project proved it. Nine months of filming passed quickly, she said, thanks to how much fun the cast and crew had together. She joked that actors are known to laugh during romantic scenes, but on this set, they laughed during sad ones too. Kubra admitted the cast and crew were not quite like family, despite what people often claim. She compared the bond more to friendships built in high school or college, where everyone sticks together no matter what. Whether it was rain, sunshine, or a rough day, the team always supported one another. Without wanting to sound overly sentimental, she credited the people behind the project for making the experience special. She specifically thanked director Mehreen Jabbar, writer Sanam Mehdi Zaryab, and director of photography Tayyab Shah. Khan also expressed appreciation for her fellow cast members. She emphasized the crew’s role in particular, crediting them for making the set such a beautiful place to work. She ended her note on a reflective note, saying she was not sure she would ever work with a team quite like this again. Still, she said she would always look back on the experience fondly. Khan added that the show has raised her expectations for future projects. She admitted the bar now feels impossibly high after her time on Doctor Bahu. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbnI7m0on5o/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==