Dan Wootton has been sacked by MailOnline the day after he was suspended by GB News for his part in an on-air discussion with actor Laurence Fox about a female journalist.
The TV anchor has been suspended from his lucrative MailOnline column since the summer over accusations he used the pseudonym “Martin Branning” to send sexually explicit messages to former colleagues.
GB News declined to investigate the claims of inappropriate sexual behaviour, arguing it was alleged to have happened at a former employer. As a result Wootton presented his primetime nightly show on GB News until this week, when he was suspended over his role in a discussion with Fox about the appearance of a female journalist.
MailOnline has now ended Wootton’s contract, which was understood to give the journalist a six-figure salary in return for two columns a week.
A spokesperson for DMG Media, the parent company of MailOnline, said: “Following events this week, DMG Media can confirm that Dan Wootton’s freelance column with MailOnline – which had already been paused – has now been terminated, along with his contract.”
Wootton is still facing another investigation by his former employers at News UK, the parent company of the Sun, over claims he pretended to be a person called “Martin Branning” in order to solicit sexual images from former colleagues.
Wootton has continually denied using the name Branning, responding to the allegations on his GB News show by saying “dark forces” were trying to bring him down with a “smear campaign”.
He said he accepted making unspecified mistakes in the past but denied any criminal wrongdoing and has since claimed he is being unfairly targeted for having “political views that challenge the orthodoxy”.
He added: “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.”
More details soon …