Jared Leto denies sexual assault allegations

Jared Leto has denied the sexual misconduct allegations made against him in a BBC documentary.

A total of 10 women accused the Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers, and he has now responded that the allegations are "categorically false".

The accusations of sexual assault, threatening sexual assault, having sex with a minor and making sexually explicit phone calls were made in the BBC documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret, which aired in the UK on Wednesday.

"I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false," Leto insisted in a statement.

The claims relate to alleged incidents between 2002 and 2016.

Elsewhere in the documentary, men who worked with Leto's band alleged that staffers were not comfortable with his "way too big... age gap" with girls he allegedly invited backstage.

The BBC said it had corroborated the women's accounts in the documentary, and that Leto did not respond to its attempts to seek comment before the programme went to air.

The claims against Leto come a year after he was accused of misconduct by nine women who spoke to Air Mail for a story titled The Cult of Leto.

A representative for Leto denied those allegations at the time.

Leto recently starred as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe, which released on 5 June.

He has never been married and keeps his personal life private, but has previously been linked to high-profile partners including Cameron Diaz, Valery Kaufman and Scarlett Johansson.