Dan Wootton addresses allegations against him on GB News: ‘An error of judgment’
Dan Wootton made a public response to the allegations against him reported by the Byline Times. (GB News)
GB News host Dan Wootton has addressed allegations made against him by a number of individuals.
The openly gay journalist, who used to work at The Sun, said yesterday (18 July) that he believed himself to be the target of a “smear campaign”, following accusations made by anonymous former colleagues and his ex-partner, Alex Truby.
“As a journalist, I feel uncomfortable being the story,” Wootton said in his first appearance on his GB News show following a brief hiatus.
“These past few days, I have been the target of a smear campaign by nefarious players with an axe to grind.”
Allegations were made public, by both Truby and sources who spoke to Byline Times, on Monday (17 July) after it revealed the culmination of a three-year investigation into Wootton’s alleged behaviour over the past decade.
Similarly, The Guardian revealed that it had been establishing a several-years-long investigation into claims made against Wootton.
In a statement to The Guardian, NewsUK, which owns The Sun, said: “We are looking into the allegations made in recent days. We are not able to make any further comment at this stage.”
MailOnline owner, DMG Media, where Wootton also works as a columnist, said: “We are aware of the allegations and are looking into them.”
In his six-minute segment on GB News, Wootton claimed that his ex had been on a “campaign to destroy my life” and claimed that he had received a number of threatening messages from his him.
In response, Truby tweeted that these allegations were “false” and that he stood by every word in his original Twitter thread, where he made the accusations.
On his show, 40-year-old Wootton admitted that he had made “errors in judgment” in the past, but that he believes he has grown as a reporter and a person and should not be punished for them.
“The criminal allegations being made against me are simply untrue,” he continued. “I would like nothing more than to address those spurious claims, I could actually spend the next two hours doing so, but, on the advice of my lawyers, I cannot comment further.”
He went on to claim that “dark forces” were trying to shut down GB News through controversy and that social media attacks are “destroying democracy.”
The presenter said: “Being in the middle of this witch hunt has made me think a lot about the sort of journalist and broadcaster I aspire to be, one focused on the massive political threats facing this country, not on personal attacks.
“I mean, who doesn’t have regrets? Should I be cancelled for them many years later? Or do you accept that I have learned and changed?”
Wootton became a controversial figure while working for The Sun due to the tabloid’s extensive reporting on the private life of celebrities.
His work involved reporting on TV presenter Caroline Flack before she took her on life in 2020, covering Phillip Schofield coming out as gay, and extensively reporting on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship.
In 2022, Flack’s former fiancé, Andrew Brady, was jailed for four months for harassment after publicly accusing Wootton of having a hand in her death due to the sheer volume of coverage by The Sun.
