MailOnline suspends Dan Wootton amid investigation

A spokesperson for DMG media, the parent company of MailOnline, confirmed Wootton would not be working for them for the foreseeable future

Dan Wootton has been suspended by the MailOnline amid an investigation into allegations.

Wootton, who is the executive editor and presenter of GB News show 'Dan Wootton Tonight', has been the focus of recent allegations that he paid money for videos of sexual activity during his time as former executive editor of The Sun and showbiz journalist.

The 40-year-old has had a twice-weekly column for the MailOnline since 2021, but it has not been published since the allegations were made public by his ex-partner last month.

A spokesperson for DMG media, the parent company of MailOnline, confirmed Wootton would not be working for them for the foreseeable future.

A statement read: “We are continuing to consider a series of allegations which Dan Wootton – who has written columns for MailOnline since 2021 as one of several outside freelance contributors – has strenuously denied.

“The allegations are obviously serious but also complex and historic and there is an independent investigation under way at the media group which employed him during the relevant period.

"In the meantime, his freelance column with MailOnline has been paused.”

Wootton is also under investigation by his former employers at Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, where he worked for more than a decade as a celebrity journalist.

He is yet to directly address the allegations but last month he told viewers of his GB News show that the claims on social media about him were a “smear campaign” by “nefarious players with an axe to grind.”

In his statement, which ran to more than six minutes of the programme on July 18, he said: "As a journalist I feel uncomfortable, but as a journalist I feel uncomfortable being the story... but I've always promised you that this show has no spin, and no bias, and no censorship, so I owe it to you to address this."

He added: “I, like all fallible humans, have made errors of judgement in the past, but the criminal allegations being made against me are simply untrue."

Wootton is known for his role in breaking the story of Megxit – the withdrawal of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from royal duties, when he worked for The Sun.

After leaving the tabloid, Wootton became a presenter at GB News and columnist for MailOnline, owned by DMG Media, which is also a publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper.

Wootton has also previously appeared as a showbiz presenter on the ITV Breakfast show Lorraine.

ITV News has approached Dan Wootton and GB News for a comment.

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