Why is Dan Wootton trending on Twitter? Allegations explored as presenter reportedly takes leave of absence
After the BBC presenter scandal, GB News’ presenter Dan Wootton is now trending on Twitter, following a series of allegations made against him by his former boyfriend Alex. In a Twitter thread, Alex accused Dan Wootton of allegedly stalking and emotional bullying him while they were in a relationship.
However, the most serious allegation was Dan being involved in the business of making s*x tapes. Alex claimed in his tweet that he once allegedly found a hard drive from Wootton’s house when he was away. On it was a video that allegedly showed a Sun employee engaged in s*xual activity with their partner.
As per Alex, the tape appeared to be non-consensual and was filmed using a hidden camera.
Alex also mentioned how there was a transcript alongside the video. It was allegedly an MSN chat between the Sun employee’s partner and an individual who identified as “Martin Branning.”
The transcript allegedly revealed how Branning allegedly paid 500 pounds and asked the partner to secretly create the s*x tape, most likely without the knowledge of the Sun employee. Alex also said he believed Martin Branning was an alias used by his ex-boyfriend Dan Wootton.
Amidst such allegations made by Alex against the GB News presenter, the news of Dan Wootton taking a sudden leave of absence has surfaced on the internet (first reported by a fake GB News Twitter account), prompting netizens to call him out for his alleged misdeeds. However, so far, neither GB News nor Dan Wootton himself has confirmed the news.
Dan Wootton is a former employee of The Sun
Dan Wootton is a 40-year-old New Zealand-born British broadcaster. He holds the citizenship of both nations. While he began his career as an entertainment columnist for a Wellington-based newspaper The Dominion Post and later as a reporter for a daily TV show called Good Morning, he immigrated to the UK in the mid-1990s.
Since then, his career has shined in the UK and it was in 2013 that he joined The Sun, the news outlet that first reported the BBC presenter scandal. He worked as The Sun’s executive editor for years before exiting it in January 2021 and joining the GB News. There, he rose to fame as the host of Tonight Live with Dan Wootton, which was later renamed Dan Wootton Tonight.
Wootton was in a relationship with someone named Alex from late 2009 to early 2013, around the time when he was associated with The Sun. As per Alex, in a chain of tweets posted on Thursday, July 13, he was stalked and emotionally bullied in the relationship. He tagged it as “the worst period of my entire life.”
According to Alex’s allegations, Dan Wootton had passwords to all his social media accounts as well as his Gmail account, which he realized when he found out that his email was regularly accessed from the News of the World office, where Wootton worked previously. But that wasn’t all.
Towards the end of their relationship, when Dan Wootton was visiting his family in New Zealand, Alex stayed at the former’s London flat to care for their cat. It was during this time that he allegedly found a locked bag hidden behind a washing machine.
Out of curiosity, Alex opened it and discovered an external hard drive. Upon further investigation, it was allegedly revealed as a s*x tape.
While he was able to come out of the relationship shortly after this incident, he later allegedly found that Dan Wootton’s Martin Branning alias was not only used against The Sun employee but also others, including Alex himself and a few of his acquaintances – all of which were meant to create s*x videos in exchange for cash.
Later, in February 2020, when British actress and TV presenter Caroline Flack passed away, Alex had taken to Twitter to share the hard drive story with the world as he felt that Flack’s death was somehow related to Martin Branning.
However, his and Dan’s mutual friend allegedly contacted him on his behalf and pressurized him to take down the tweets, which he reluctantly did as he was terrified of his ex-boyfriend.
Subsequently, however, he allegedly received texts from a former colleague of Wootton who allegedly accused his alias Martin Branning of harassing them and others from The Sun.
Alex also mentioned how he has personally spoken to the victims and other journalists, but none of them had the courage to speak up. He also filed a report against Dan to the police, but no action was ever taken. Alex wrapped up saying how the world needed to know who the real Dan Wootton was and that he would not delete his tweets this time.
The news of Dan Wootton’s alleged wrongdoings has taken social media by storm. Here’s how netizens are reacting to it.
Wootton, who is usually active on Twitter, has been missing in action since last weekend. In fact, he has not presented his usual shows on GB News this week and has been replaced by another broadcaster.
Dan Wootton is the recipient of Showbiz Reporter of the Year at both the 2010 and 2013 editions of the British Press Awards. Apart from being associated with The Sun and GB News, he has also worked for the News of the World, Now magazine, Daily Mail, and Broadcast magazine among others.
He also appeared as a showbiz reporter for ITV’s morning show Lorraine between 2011 and 2019.
He has also been a guest host for BBC Radio 5 Live. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for breaking news such as the News International phone hacking scandal in 2012, the Hollywood HIV Panic in 2015, and the exit of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from the British Royal Family in 2020.
He also acted as a host for talkRADIO and columnist for MailOnline during his transition from The Sun to GB News.
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Prem Deshpande