Dan Walker jokes he has to 'desert' co-host Myleene Klass amid employment tribunal

Dan Walker appeared to make an oblique reference to his employment tribunal in a video with Myleene Klass on social media.

The Channel 5 News presenter and ITN were accused of bullying, sexism, and misogyny on the first day of the hearing on Monday - which they have strongly denied.

Walker, 49, may have referenced the tribunal with a joke about having to “desert his co-host” Myleene Klass ahead of the Classic FM Live concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Walker, who has presented the Classic FM Breakfast Show since 2024, told the camera: “Myleene has been put in a really tricky position for presenting.

“She's about to go on stage in front of thousands of people, live at the Royal Albert Hall and her co-presenter has completely deserted her.”
Klass then said over his shoulder: “Are you coming or what?”
The video was captioned, “Oops!” with a hand over the mouth emoji.

The co-hosts fronted an evening of classical music at the legendary London venue, which will be aired on Thursday on Classic FM.

Walker is facing a slew of allegations from his former Channel 5 News co-host Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije, 47.

The hearing, which is in London, is expected to last five weeks.

Vanderpuije’s legal team said: “Claudia-Liza is constrained for legal reasons from saying anything further about her claims until the trial when they will be set out in full in the submissions made by her barrister.”
She has been subject to “horrible” social media abuse since reports of the tribunal emerged, it has been claimed.

She brought the claim against four parties, which include Walker, station owner Paramount and Channel 5.

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ITN - the production company behind Channel 4, Channel 5 and ITV - said the claim is “denied in full” and “will be addressed through the tribunal process”.

Walker “absolutely denies any sexism , misogyny, racism or bullying ” and that the issue had been “hanging over” him for a number of years, sources told The Mail.

“He will be at London Central tribunal later this month.

Nobody wants this but he will be there to tell the judge the truth,” an insider said.

“There will be tons of witness statements which will talk to Dan’s character.

He has been absolutely stunned with the amount of people willing to support him.

He has been stunned and actually very upset to be accused of such things.”
Walker has reportedly gathered more than 50 character witness statements from BBC journalists, famous footballers, colleagues and Olympians.

Vanderpuije left Channel 5 in 2024.

Her final year was spent presenting next to Walker.

She is being represented by Jonathan Coad, the former lawyer to Philip Schofield.

Her legal team attempted to settle for £4 million, but that was refused, according to several reports.

In 2024, former BBC Breakfast presenter Walker was exonerated after a workplace probe into “serious conduct allegations”.

The investigation revealed there was “a lack of evidence to support allegations”.

In an interview with the Telegraph in 2024, the presenter said: “I haven’t really talked about it, but that was fully investigated and everything was completely incorrect and I was entirely vindicated by an independent inquiry.

“So yeah, that’s not nice, but you hold on to what you know the truth is and ultimately the truth is the important thing.”