Career
Wootton started his career as a journalist in his New Zealand, writing an entertainment column for the Wellington-based broadsheet newspaper The Dominion Post and reporting for the daily television show Good Morning . [15] He immigrated to the United Kingdom when he was 21 and, after a period working for trade magazines, joined Broadcast magazine. [16]
Wootton joined the News of the World TV team in February 2007, [17] becoming TV editor in November 2007, [18] and show-business editor from November 2008 until its closure in July 2011; [15] [19] he then became a columnist and feature writer for the Daily Mail and editor-at-large for Now magazine. [20] [21] He later testified to the Leveson Inquiry in 2012 about the News International phone hacking scandal, denying illegally publishing stories collected through phone hacking while an editor at the News of the World. [22] [23]
In 2013, Wootton joined The Sun newspaper, launching a new column on Sundays. [24] He became editor of the newspaper's Bizarre column in 2014, [25] and was promoted to associate editor (showbiz and TV) in 2016. [26] He was named 'Showbiz reporter of the year' at the 2010, 2013 and 2018 British Press Awards. [27] [28] Wootton also made appearances as a showbiz reporter on ITV's morning show Lorraine between 2011 and 2019, and was a guest on BBC Radio 5 Live. [20]
In 2015, Wootton and The Sun received widespread criticism for an article he wrote for the newspaper entitled "Hollywood HIV Panic". HIV policy adviser Lisa Power called it "vile" and expressed disappointment that Wootton had "lent his name to such a shameful piece", saying that it reinforced stigma against people with HIV. [29] British HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust called it "irresponsible", [30] while The BMJ , a peer-reviewed medical journal also criticised the article. [31]
Wootton hosted a weekly talkRADIO show called Dan's Dilemmas from March 2018 and, in February 2020, took over the station's drivetime show, replacing Eamonn Holmes. [32] [33] [34]
Wootton has been credited with breaking the story about Megxit in The Sun on 8 January 2020, which prompted Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, to announce within hours their plans for stepping back from their royal duties. [35] Wootton stated that he had been in contact with the couple's spokesperson on 28 December and gave them ten days' notice before the story broke, despite facing pressure from royal officials not to run the piece. [35] Sources close to the couple later told The New York Times that they "felt forced to disclose their plans prematurely" as they learned about The Sun's intentions to publish the story. [35] Wootton disputed the claim as "They released the statement after we had published the story and had so much notice." [35]
In June 2020, it was reported that Harry's lawyers had issued a 'letter before action', threatening to sue Dan Wootton and The Sun, based on allegations that they had paid money to associates of palace officials to secure their stories. [36] Wootton's lawyers denied that any payments were made unlawfully to a public official or a proxy and described the claims as "a smear campaign by unknown bad actors." [36] Prince Harry later said that he believed Wootton was able to publish storis due to "the strength of his secret relationship with one particularly close friend of [Prince William's] comms secretary – who fed him trivial (and mostly fake) gossip." [37]
In July 2020, libel proceedings brought by Johnny Depp against Wootton and News Group Newspapers began in the High Court of Justice in the case of Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd . The action related to an article published in 2018 in The Sun describing Depp as a "wife beater". [38] [39] On 2 November 2020, the court ruled in favour of News Group. Mr Justice Nicol found that assaults were proven to the civil standard in 12 of the 14 incidents reported by Amber Heard, [40] and he concluded that The Sun's article was substantially accurate on the balance of probabilities. [41] In 2022, Depp sued Heard in a separate defamation trial in the United States. This case had a different outcome, with the jury finding that Depp had proven all the elements of defamation, including that the statements were false, and that Heard defamed Depp with actual malice. [42]
In October 2020, Labour MP Chris Bryant criticised Wootton for being "a dangerous conspiracy theorist" after Wootton advocated for the Great Barrington Declaration and suggested that herd immunity could be a solution for COVID-19. [43]
In January 2021, Wootton announced that he would leave The Sun and talkRADIO to become a columnist for MailOnline and present a daily show, four days a week, on GB News. [3] In November 2021, his GB News programme, Tonight Live with Dan Wootton, was rebranded to Dan Wootton Tonight and shortened to two hours. [44]
In February 2022, Andrew Brady, a former Apprentice contestant and ex-fiancé of Caroline Flack, was jailed for four months for harassing Wootton and making false accusations of sexual offences against him. [45]
In August 2023, DMG Media, the parent company of the Daily Mail and MailOnline, suspended Wootton and paused his freelance column pending an investigation after allegations of sexual misconduct were made. [46] On 21 February 2024 the Metropolitan Police said that they would not be taking any further action. [47]
On 26 September 2023, whilst appearing on Wootton's GB News show 'Dan Wootton Tonight', actor Laurence Fox made sexual comments about journalist Ava Evans of the news website Joe that the broadcaster deemed "totally unacceptable". Wootton, who could be seen laughing at points as Fox spoke, subsequently apologised, saying he should have intervened and had reacted "out of shock". [48] Following the apology, private messages between Fox and Wootton, shared by Fox on X (formerly Twitter), appeared to show Wootton reacting to the incident on GB News with laughing emojis. [49] Fox was sacked following the incident [50] and Wootton was suspended pending an internal investigation. [4] Ofcom, the government's broadcasting regulatory body, opened an investigation into the incident. The regulator received nearly 9,000 complaints about the episode in question – the highest number of complaints received of any broadcast on British television during 2023. [6] [5] [51]
On 4 March 2024, Ofcom concluded that the show in September 2023 did breach their rules and that Wootton's remarks "constituted a highly personal attack on Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers", adding that Wootton's reaction and limited challenge "did not mitigate the potential for offence" and instead "exacerbated it by contributing to the narrative in which a woman's value was judged by her physical appearance". [52] Wootton and the channel parted ways the following day, on 5 March 2024. [53]
On 28 September 2023, whilst already suspended, DMG Media terminated Wootton's contract and freelance column at MailOnline. [5] [6]
Allegations of criminal and inappropriate conduct
From July 2023, allegations were published against Wootton in Byline Times of inappropriate and criminal conduct, including catfishing former colleagues and orchestrating non-consensual voyeurism of victims using male pornographic actors. [54] Wootton said all criminal allegations were "untrue" and that he is the victim of a "smear campaign". [55]
In early October 2023, the Metropolitan Police confirmed to Byline Times that after seeking to "establish whether any criminal offence" had taken place, they had now commenced an investigation into the allegations. They added that no arrests had been made. [56]
On 3 October 2023, Press Gazette reported that several newspapers including The Guardian and the Mirror had removed stories from their news websites after being threatened with possible legal action by lawyers acting for Wootton, warning media outlets that the outcome of a court case could be aggravated and/or exemplary damages and an order to pay both sides’ legal fees. [57]
On 21 February 2024 the Metropolitan Police said that they would not be taking any further action. Wootton issued a statement saying that he had been "completely cleared" by the Metropolitan Police and Police Scotland. [58] [59] The Byline Times confirmed that both police forces had closed their investigations and would not be taking any action against Wootton. [60] Police Scotland added, "We reserve the right to review this decision in the future and should any new information become available or reported, this will be fully investigated." [59]
On 28 February 2024, The Guardian published an apology to Wootton for its article the previous October and stated that they "paid a contribution to Mr Wootton's costs". [61] [62] News UK and DMG Media's separate investigations into Wootton's behaviour remain ongoing as of February 2024. [63]
