By Gabriel Princewill-
Dan Wootton(pictured) has been suspended by MailOnline over serious allegations that he used a pseudonym to secretly offer his colleagues tens of thousands of pounds in return for explicit sexual material.
A spokesperson for DMG media, the parent company of MailOnline, confirmed Wootton would not be working for them for the foreseeable future. They said: “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.
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“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.”
His suspension follows a series of allegations, published by Byline Times, including claims surrounding payments for explicit images of individuals, and others in relation to alleged conduct of perpetual harassment of colleagues while working at The Sun.
The publication stated that Wooton- a formerly well paid journalist for The Mailonline and GB News, where he still hosts a night time prime time show, subjected employees at The Sun to a series of bullying and unwanted comments, to the extent of making some of the affected parties very uncomfortable; one of them becoming emaciated at one point.
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The very damning allegations have severely tarnished Wooton’s reputation, and threatens to irreparably damage the integrity of GB News for keeping the journalist in the face of very damning allegations.
Wooton originally did not directly deny the allegations against him, electing to simply insist that no criminality occurred, and telling viewers that he had made “errors of judgement in the past”, but said he was the victim of a “witch hunt” and “smear campaign” by “nefarious players with an axe to grind” .
He added that there were “dark forces” who wish to destroy him and silence right-leaning GB News for political reasons.
Newzealand born Wooton subsequently suggested he had learnt from those past errors, without clarifying what particular mistakes he was referring to.
Wooton’s lawyer said in a statement: “For the avoidance of further doubt, our client did not at any time contact current or former colleagues at the Sun with offers of money in return for sexually explicit images, he did not engage in inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, and he did not misuse News UK funds”.
Some critics have suggested to The Eye Of Media.Com that the fact The Sun has not come out openly to categorically dispute the allegations against their former showbiz editor, but has instead hired a law firm to investigate the allegations, is deductively indicative of some form of guilt on his part.
The matter remains open to the court of public opinion.
The Byline Times, which has expressed unflinching confidence in the veracity of the stories from its sources, also reported that the journalist also paid adult film stars to meet gay men he had catfished in order to secretly record them having sex.
The paper claimed that Wooton registered one of the porn stars as a “new payee” on The Sun’s contributor payments system, and rented the Facebook profiles of at least three different male porn performers for up to £500 a time, before posing as the individuals, and tricking his targets into meetings to be covertly filmed with cameras he supplied.
A successful journalist for many years, Wooton has been a strong presence in the British media, both on print and television.
A vocal critic of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, he also featured in critiques following the Phil Schofield scandal, and the 2019 documentary film produced by Dan Reed. featuring strong allegations by Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who claimed to have been sexually abused as children by the American singer Michael Jackson.
He now finds himself on the receiving end of very disturbing allegations indeed.
Wooton has set up a crowdfunding campaign to sue the Byline Times for what he has described as far left online smears designed to destroy him financially, mentally and professionally.
He will deserve a big apology and lots of money if the allegations against him for any reason proves to be fictitious.
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