Dan Wootton Finally Axed from GB News as Ofcom Rules Against Channel in Misogyny Row

Dan Wootton has finally been axed from his £600,000-a-year GB News role after the broadcasting regulator upheld a complaint over the misogyny row which saw him suspended from the channel five months ago.  

Wootton has been off-air since 27 September last year when he and Laurence Fox made derogatory comments about a female journalist on Dan Wootton Tonight, which resulted in 8,867 complaints to Ofcom – making it 2023’s most complained about broadcast.

In its judgement, which found that GB News was in breach of ‘generally accepted standards’, Ofcom revealed that it had recently been sent new evidence by lawyers for the channel which it had previously been “unable” to provide due to an “‘internal employment process”. 

The judgement, released on Monday, said: “On Friday 1 March 2024… solicitors on behalf of the licensee [GB News] sent Ofcom new evidence which it said it had been unable to send previously due to an internal employment process. 

“The solicitors said this information supported the licensee’s position that it had asked Mr Wootton to read out an apology and he refused, but it had been unable to give Ofcom this information until this point as ‘it was considered unfair to Mr Wootton… during an employment process’.

“The licensee asked Ofcom to delay publication of the decision so that Ofcom could consider the information.”

Given this detail, the publication of Ofcom’s decision seemingly confirms that Wootton’s internal employment process with GB News is now over. 

Wootton has also been removed from the channel’s list of presenters online. 

The journalist announced last month that two police investigations into him had been concluded, with no further action being taken.

While GB News did not respond to a request for comment regarding Wootton’s employment status, an insider told Byline Times: “He’s definitely gone for good.”

It is not known whether Wootton received a pay-off as part of his departure or whether he retains his share-holding in the channel.

This newspaper revealed in January that Wootton is preparing a return to screens on Rumble – the ‘free speech’ platform hosting former comedian Russell Brand since his YouTube earnings ban following rape allegations that he denies.

Another source said Wootton is considering a move to the US, which will see voters head to the polls in November’s Presidential Election. His lawyer, Donal Blaney, has business links to Rebekah Mercer, a billionaire Donald Trump donor.

“As we could well see the re-election as US President of Donald Trump in November, Dan hopes his polemic, hard-right rhetoric will do well in America,” the source said. “He also knows his mainstream media career in the UK is over and wants a new start where his past behaviours are less likely to follow him around.”

At the weekend, Wootton posted a photograph of himself on Instagram smiling with both hands in the air outside Trump’s Turnberry Hotel in Ayr, which he captioned: “What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.”

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‘Degrading and Demeaning’

Actor-turned-activist Laurence Fox drew condemnation after asking what “self-respecting man” would “climb into bed” with political journalist Ava Evans, during Wootton’s live GB News show on 26 September.

Wootton could be seen smiling and laughing throughout Fox’s remarks, before adding for “a touch of balance”, that Evans had qualified the comments she had made – which the two men were discussing – and called her a “very beautiful woman”.

Ofcom launched an investigation into Wootton’s show under rule 2.3 of the Broadcasting Code, in which broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context.

The regulator found that Fox’s remarks “constituted a highly personal attack on Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers”.

It also said it has “significant concerns about GB News’ editorial control of its live output” and is requiring the channel to “provide further detailed information about its compliance practices in this area”.

“[The comments] reduced her contribution to a broadcast discussion on mental health – in her professional capacity as a political journalist – to a judgement on whether she, or women like her who publicly expressed their political opinions, were sexually desirable to men,” Ofcom said in its ruling.

“As such, we considered that Mr Fox’s comments were degrading and demeaning both to Ms Evans and women generally and were clearly and unambiguously misogynistic.”

It added 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”.

It added that “no apology was made after the interview with Mr Fox in the remainder of the two-hour programme – nor were any other editorial techniques used to address the potential for offence”.

While Wootton had remained suspended on full pay, Fox was sacked last September. 

This is the second time that Ofcom has asked GB News to “attend a meeting at our offices”. It first made the request last May after it found the broadcaster had breached broadcasting rules when it aired “unopposed” claims about the Coronavirus vaccine from guest Dr Naomi Wolf.

Evans, PoliticsJOE‘s Political Correspondent, has said she is “pleased” that Ofcom recognised the remarks made about her were sexist, but that it needs to be able to “impose meaningful sanctions for conduct of this kind, not just slap its perpetrators on the wrist, should they be unwilling to change their behaviour”.

Tom Latchem and Dan Evans are former colleagues of Dan Wootton’s from the News of the World between 2007 and 2011. None of the sources in this investigation were paid for their testimony