Dan Wootton: Lily Allen and Carol Vorderman call out former The Sun journalist as he denies allegations

GB News presenter Dan Wootton, known for his scathing comments, has made headlines in recent weeks and found himself at the centre of a scandal. The ITV star has admitted to making “errors of judgement in the past” but has categorically denied the allegations against him that had him trending on Twitter.

Dan Wootton has been accused of using a fake online persona to bribe several men into revealing compromising material over at least a 10-year period. The presenter has denied these claims and publicly responded to what he calls a "smear campaign" while on GB News and said that the "criminal allegations being made against me are simply untrue."

He said: "These past few days, I have been the subject of a smear campaign by nefarious players with an axe to grind. It has created an untrue story about me. I, like all fallible human beings, have made errors of judgement in the past, but the criminal allegations being made against me are simply untrue.

"Being in the middle of this witch hunt has made me think a lot about the sort of journalist and broadcaster I aspire to be – one focused on the massive political threats facing this country, not on personal attacks."

Then the former Lorraine presenter took to Twitter on Friday (21 July) to share a link to a donations page titled ‘stop Dan Wootton being cancelled by online smears’. He has received around £5,000 out of a £150,000 goal at the time of writing.

Wooton wrote: "A hard left blog is on a deranged campaign of harassment designed to destroy me financially, mentally and professionally – but, with your help, they will not succeed. Please support my legal case against Byline Times so I can keep fighting for you.

"Byline Times has eschewed all journalistic, legal and moral practices to publish a series of defamatory and untrue claims as part of a highly politicised witch hunt designed to cancel and de-platform me. Byline have already come for the likes of the Free Speech Union, the Legatum Institute, GB News and Douglas Murray who received substantial damages for their lies. Now they and others want to silence me."

Byline Times disputes his comments in the strongest possible terms and we stand by our reporting of the alleged victims’ voices. Peter Jukes, co-founder and executive editor of the Byline Times told Yahoo News: “We have pursued this story because of alleged personal behaviours and things we believe are wrong individually in terms of having false identities and catfishing – that has nothing to do with Dan Wootton’s politics, it has nothing to do with his time at GB News, because nearly all of the evidence we have predates that.”

Here is everything you need to know about the latest situation regarding Dan Wootton. This includes what he has said publicly about the allegations, as well what other public figures have said about the presenter.

What celebs have spoken out against Dan Wootton?

Lily Allen

As Dan Wootton continued to trend on Twitter, actress Lily Allen shared a screenshot of a previous tweet shared by Wootton in July 2015. The original tweet from Wootton includes an image of the front page of The Sun newspaper, where Wootton worked, which featured a story about Allen collapsing at Glastonbury.

"Whilst I’m able to take responsibility for my own actions I can hand on heart say that a big part of the reason I would get myself into these states was because of the relentless bullying and constant surveillance and scrutiny this man had me under. FOR NO REASON. Anyway, karmas a bi**h. I couldn’t be happier at this time in my life. Absolutely thriving."

Allen later clarified her tweet, saying: "Following on from my tweet yesterday, I see that some think i was blaming Dan [Wootton] for my dependencies. I don’t expect people to understand the pain associated with being harassed in the very public way that I was for a good 15 years, but just because you can’t understand it, it doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen, it did.”

The former singer concluded: "Dan Wootton last night claimed he is a victim of a smear campaign by nefarious players with an axe to grind, that his accuser is running a campaign to destroy his life. The irony is not lost on me, maybe now Dan can begin to understand what it felt like. I actually wish him well, I hope that he comes out the other side of whatever it is that he is facing, and that eventually it leads him to a place of happiness, peace and truth."

Carol Vorderman

The former Countdown presenter also took aim at Dan Wootton on Twitter as the GB News presenter made headlines. Vorderman said that “karma” was coming for the journalist, just hours before Dan claimed to be the target of a “smear campaign”. Vorderman told her nearly one million followers: “Karma isn’t a ‘b**ch’ today. She’s a strong smiling Queen #DanWoottonExposed. TY (thank you) @BylineTimes. Give them a follow...there may be more!! X”