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MailOnline Pauses Dan Wootton Column During Investigation Over Allegations

August 4, 2023

British presenter and journalist Dan Wootton has had his MailOnline celebrity news column suspended as the site’s publisher investigates “a series of allegations.”

The GB News presenter has not written his column since June 29, which followed the initial reports from an expose in The Byline Times. Wootton denies the allegations, though has admitted making “errors of judgement” in the past.

The allegations name him as ‘Martin Branning,’ a fake online showbiz agent who offered individuals, some of whom were Wootton’s former colleagues, money in exchange for sexual imagery.

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One of the most recent articles claims Wootton paid male porn stars to secretly film themselves having sex with men he had targeted. The articles also allege bullying and harassment, and The Byline Times said it has sent a 28-page dossier to UK police. Wootton denies any criminal activity.

The MailOnline’s publisher, DMG Media and The Sun, where he worked between 2007 and 2021, with released statements saying they were exploring the allegations last month.

In a new statement released today, DMG said: “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, known for breaking the story on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s move to the U.S. with Prince Harry, took to his Dan Wootton Tonight show soon after the initial allegations to deliver a six-minute monologue in which he admitted historic mistakes but claimed he and the right-leaning GB News network were victims of a “witchhunt.”

“There are dark forces out to try and take this brilliant channel down,” he added.

Wootton, who was The Sun’s star showbiz reporter and rose to become its Executive Editor, had not addressed DMG’s move on his social channels at press time. Instead, he retweeted excerpts from his show, which broadly attacks left-wing politics and perceived ‘wokeism.’