Meghan Markle Critic Dan Wootton Suspended Over Misogyny Backlash

GB News has suspended Dan Wootton, seen here on his show “Dan Wootton Tonight,” following his “mysogynistic” interview with political activist Laurence Fox. Photo: Dan Wootton/Instagram Dan Wootton/Instagram

Dan Wootton has been suspended over alleged misogynistic comments by a guest on his show on Tuesday. The host has been an outspoken critic of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and has done several interviews with her estranged father Thomas Markle Sr.

U.K. television regulator Ofcom suspended the British presenter following an investigation into his interview with political activist Laurence Fox on “Dan Wootton Tonight” on GB News. Fox had publicly insulted journalist Ava Evans of “PoliticsJOE” when he asked: “Show me a single, self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman ever, who wasn’t an incel.”

Wootton smiled and laughed in response as Fox further called Evans “pathetic and embarrassing”. As the moderator of the show, instead of stopping his guest from throwing in more insults, the presenter only said “Oh Laurence” at his guest who later added: “Who’d want to shag that?” Later in the interview, Wootton told Fox that Evans is a “very beautiful woman”.

The interview was met with backlash from social media and Evans herself shared she felt “physically sick” as she posted the video on X.

Wootton shared his regrets hours after the interview aired in a post addressed to the journalist. He wrote: “Dear@AvaSantina. I think you’re brilliant. Earlier tonight I was attempting to find your tweets to read back from my iPad and couldn’t locate them. I apologise for what was said during the course of my show and should have done this immediately on air. This is not what our channel is about.”

Wootton again apologised on Wednesday explaining that he reacted out of shock in an “off guard moment”. He said he “should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks”.

He shared his apologies for what he called a “very unfortunate lapse in judgement” on his part “under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange”. He admitted that he “should have done better”.

Wootton wrote: “I’m devastated that I let down the team and our supportive GBN family. We seek to tackle the issue and not the person, which I intend to stress again on air tonight.”

However, Wootton would not be returning to host his show for the time being as GB News has suspended him. A representative said in a statement sent to Newsweek: “GB News has suspended Dan Wootton following comments made on his program by Laurence Fox last night. This follows our decision earlier today to formally suspend Mr. Fox. We are conducting a full investigation.”

Wootton has been a regular critic of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. He has even invited several so-called royal experts on his show to share their opinions, mostly criticism of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The duke in his memoir “Spare” referred to him as a “sad little man”.