Lineker has been sacked as the presenter of BBC’s Match of the Day after criticizing the UK government’s asylum policy.
Former England team captain Gary Lineker has been temporarily removed from his role as presenter of BBC’s flagship football highlights show Match of the Day after he criticized the UK government’s new policy on asylum seekers.
The BBC’s removal of Lineker from the show – a national institution in Britain that has been broadcast since the 1960s – represents an extraordinary development and was followed by a wave of public support for Lineker and a crowd of his colleagues, who announced that they wouldn’t perform the show without him.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday to his 8.7 million followers, Lineker – one of England’s greatest footballers and now one of Britain’s most influential media figures – said the language used by members of the British government towards asylum seekers was that used in Nazis Germany is similar.
“The BBC has decided that he will step down from presenting the ‘Match of the Day’,” the BBC said late on Friday, “until we have an agreed and clear position on his use of social media”.
“We never said that Gary should be in a no-opinion zone or that he can’t have an opinion on issues that are important to him, but we did say that he should stay away from taking sides on partisan politics or controversies” , said the BBC.
Conservative MPs had called on the BBC to discipline Lineker after he tweeted that the government’s plan to detain and deport asylum seekers arriving by boat was “an immeasurably cruel policy against the most vulnerable in a language spoken by the used is not dissimilar from Germany in the 1930s”.
“There isn’t a huge turnout. We take in far fewer refugees than other major European countries,” he wrote.
There is not a large influx. We take in far fewer refugees than other large European countries. This is just immeasurably cruel policy towards the most vulnerable in language not dissimilar to the language used in Germany in the 30’s and I’m out of order?
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023
The government called Lineker’s Nazi comparison inappropriate and unacceptable, while some MPs called for him to be fired.
Lineker has not yet officially commented on his temporary layoff, although one of his former BBC colleagues – Dan Walker – said he had been in touch with Lineker and asked him “if he was stepping down or if the BBC had told him he should resign back”.
Walker said Lineker replied that the BBC “told me I had to resign”.
“So Gary Lineker wants to continue presenting ‘Match Of The Day’ and doesn’t apologize for what he said,” Walker said on Channel 5, where he works, “but he said it was a BBC decision, him.” to force present the program at the moment”.
In solidarity with Lineker’s stance, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright – former England players who work as Match of the Day pundits – said on Twitter that they would not appear on the program this weekend.
I have informed the BBC that I will not be appearing on MOTD tomorrow night.
– Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) March 10, 2023
Everyone knows what Match of the Day means to me, but I’ve told the BBC I won’t be doing it tomorrow. Solidarity.
— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) March 10, 2023
The BBC said it considered Lineker’s “recent social media activity a breach of our policies”, adding that he should avoid taking sides on political issues.
Funded by a license fee paid by all households with a television, the BBC has a duty to be impartial and news staff are prohibited from expressing political opinions.
But as a freelancer who doesn’t work in news or current affairs, Lineker isn’t bound by the same rules, and his tweets often deal with politics and human rights issues.
The BBC’s neutrality has recently come under scrutiny following revelations that its chairman Richard Sharp – a Conservative Party donor – helped arrange a loan for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021, weeks before he left on government advice was appointed to the BBC post.
Support for Lineker surged on social media on Friday night, raising questions about the BBC’s impartiality and its lack of action towards other figures who have taken public positions on political issues.
Darling @BBC. In fairness, could you please ask now @Lord_Sugar step aside @bbcaprentice . Otherwise, people might wonder if you really are impartial @GaryLineker pic.twitter.com/GY2JurOiLy
— Alan Rusbridger (@arusbridger) March 10, 2023
“Stop the Boats”
The Conservative government has come under fire over plans to ban asylum claims from people arriving by boat off the UK coast and transfer them to other places, such as Rwanda.
Human rights groups and the United Nations said the policy, dubbed “Stop the Boats,” would make the UK an international outlaw under European and UN conventions protecting asylum seekers.
The opposition Labor Party said the BBC’s removal of Gary Lineker was “an attack on freedom of expression in the face of political pressure”.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called the BBC’s move “unsustainable”.
After more of his staff, including former football players Alex Scott, Jermaine Jenas and Micah Richards, said they would not want to work on Match of the Day because of Lineker’s treatment, the BBC decided the show’s format would be broadcast on Saturdays.
“Some of our experts have said they do not wish to appear on the show while we try to resolve the situation with Gary,” the BBC said in its statement on Friday.
“We understand their position and have decided that the program will focus on match action with no studio presentation or expert knowledge,” it said.
Lineker, 62, was a household name in Britain long before he became a smooth, knowledgeable presenter of sports programs for the BBC and other broadcasters. He was top scorer at the 1986 World Cup and ended his international career with 48 goals in 80 games for England.
His club career has included stints at Barcelona, Tottenham, Everton and Leicester.