After his criticism of the UK government’s new stance on asylum seekers, former England team captain Gary Lineker has been temporarily suspended from his position as presenter of the BBC’s premier football highlights show Match of the Day.
A flood of public support for Lineker and a number of his coworkers stating they would not go on the show without him followed the BBC’s decision to remove Lineker from the program, which has been a staple of UK culture since the 1960s.
Lineker, one of England’s greatest football players and currently one of the UK’s most powerful media figures, claimed in a tweet on Tuesday that the language used by members of the UK government toward asylum seekers was comparable to that of Nazi Germany. Lineker has 8.7 million followers on Twitter.
The BBC said late on Friday that he would stop hosting “Match of the Day” until there was agreement on a clear stance about his usage of social media.
The BBC stated: “We have never said Gary should be an opinion-free zone, or that he can’t have a perspective on matters that concern to him. Nevertheless, we have stressed that he should steer well away from taking sides on party political issues or political scandals.
After Lineker tweeted that the government’s plan to detain and deport asylum seekers arriving by boat was “an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s,” members of the Conservative Party of Parliament demanded that the BBC discipline Lineker.
There isn’t a huge influx. Compared to other major European nations, we accept significantly fewer refugees, he noted.
Lineker’s comparison of the Nazis was deemed improper and undesirable by the government, while some lawmakers said that he ought to be fired.
Although one of his former BBC coworkers, Dan Walker, claimed to have spoken with Lineker and asked him “if he is stepping back or whether the BBC have told him to step back,” Lineker has not yet issued an official statement regarding his temporary departure.
According to Walker, Lineker told him that the BBC “told me I have to stand back” in response.
Walker said on Channel 5, where he works, “so Gary Lineker wants to continue to present ‘Match Of The Day’ and is not apologizing for what he has said, but he has said it’s a BBC choice to force him to not present the program at the time.
Former England players Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, who serve as Match of the Day pundits, said on Twitter that they will not be participating in the show this weekend in support of Lineker’s stance.
The BBC stated that it believed Lineker’s “recent social media conduct to be a breach of our principles” and advised him to refrain from endorsing any particular political viewpoints.
The BBC is required to be objective and news staff are prohibited from expressing political opinions. The BBC is funded by a license fee that is paid by every household with a television.
However, since Lineker is a freelancer and does not work in news or current affairs, he is not subject to the same regulations. As a result, he frequently discusses politics and human rights issues in his tweets.
The BBC’s impartiality has recently come under fire following disclosures that Richard Sharp, its chairman and a supporter of the Conservative Party, assisted in securing a loan for Boris Johnson in 2021, only weeks before he was recommended by the government for the BBC position.
On Friday night, Lineker’s popularity soared on social media, and concerns about the BBC’s objectivity and lack of response to other people who had publicly taken positions on political topics were voiced.
The Tory administration has been under fire for its intentions to ban asylum requests from migrants who arrive by boat in the UK and send them to other countries, like Rwanda.
According to human rights organizations and the UN, the UK would become a worldwide pariah under European and UN conventions on the safeguards accorded to individuals seeking refuge if it implemented the “stop the boats” policy.
In response to political pressure, the BBC’s decision to take Gary Lineker off the air is an assault on free speech, according to the opposition Labour party.
The BBC’s action was deemed “indefensible” by Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland.
The BBC changed the format of the show, which airs on Saturdays, when more of his coworkers, including former football players Alex Scott, Jermaine Jenas, and Micah Richards, expressed their unwillingness to work on Match of the Day due to Lineker’s treatment.
The BBC released a statement on Friday that read, “Some of our experts have said they don’t desire to appear on the program while we work to resolve the matter with Gary.
It stated, “We comprehend their stance and have determined that the broadcast will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry.
Long before he started presenting sports programs on the BBC and other broadcasters, the 62-year-old Lineker was widely known throughout the Country. He concluded his international career with 48 goals in 80 games for England and was the tournament’s top scorer in 1986.
He had time with Barcelona, Tottenham, Everton, and Leicester during his club career.
