Anglo-Antipodean news presenter Dan Wootton hit back at allegations of criminality made against him in the “cesspit of social media” in recent days, saying he is the victim of a smear campaign by an abusive former partner.
GB News Presenter Dan Wootton addressed allegations made in online publication The Byline Times and on social media in recent days during his Tuesday night show, categorically denying “criminal allegations” and attacking the “untrue story”. The Metropolitan Police has said, Sky News reports, they were “assessing information” after being contacted with “allegations of sexual offences” but that no active investigation was underway.
Wootton said he was being targeted by a vindictive ex-boyfriend “working with an organisation who are intent on closing down this channel”, and that “I, like all fallible human beings, have made errors of judgement in the past. But the criminal allegations against me are simply untrue.”
Having denied he had broken the law, the presenter said he would make no comments on specific allegations made against him online on the advice of his lawyers, and claimed the ex-partner he said was behind the “smear campaign” had been so abusive and threatening in the past that Wootton had been forced to report him to the police. Wootton asserted that police were already investigating the individual.
The Byline Times said they had “handed a 28-page dossier of evidence” to the Metropolitan police in June. Wootton criticised UK left-wing publication The Guardian for repeating the claims in print.
The claims, or allusions to them, trended on Twitter in the United Kingdom this week and follow by days a sexual propriety scandal at state broadcaster the BBC last week. That was handled somewhat differently, on the face of things, compared to Wootton’s direct denial from his own broadcast show. The BBC, by contrast, has been harshly criticised by some for being slow to respond to allegations of wrongdoing by a presenter and then keeping his name secret for days despite furious speculation.
Speaking of journalistic standards, Wootton compared his situation with that of BBC scandal broadcaster Huw Edwards, and said: “our rush to judge before due process, thanks in my case to the mad ramblings of highly politicised Twitter trolls and revolting blogs that eschew basic journalistic standards is destroying democracy. And that’s why, by the way, I didn’t say a word about Huw Edwards. Not one word.”
While Wootton was off-air last week, his broadcaster GB News states he was on holiday to visit his family in his native New Zealand.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.