On Tuesday, Lineker’s account tweeted that the government’s intention to jail and deport migrants who arrive by boat was “an enormously cruel policy geared at the most vulnerable individuals in language that is not different to that employed by Germany in the 1930s.” This sparked the latest uproar.
BBC’s sports programming got cancelled
Much of the BBC‘s weekend sports programming had to be cancelled as the network fought to quell a growing outcry over the suspension of soccer commentator Gary Lineker for remarks critical of the British government’s new migration policy. Presenters, analysts, and English Premier League players staged a boycott of the airwaves on Saturday in solidarity of Lineker, who was the target of accusations of political bias and stifling of free expression against Britain’s national broadcaster, which was praised by Tory lawmakers.
As hosts of many of its well-liked sports programmes declined to participate in solidarity with Lineker, the broadcaster announced that it will only screen “limited sport programming” this weekend. In a tweet that equated parliamentarians’ language about immigrants to that used in Nazi Germany, the former England captain blasted the government’s plan to jail and expel migrants arriving by boat and was consequently suspended from “Match of the Day,” a popular soccer highlights show.
The BBC did not broadcast any preview programmes or early evening summaries of the Premier League game results on Saturday, instead sparingly covering the most watched league in the world. The afternoon television programme “Football Focus” was swapped for a repeat of the antiques programme “Bargain Hunt,” while the early evening programme “Final Score” was changed to “The Repair Shop.”
The 60-year-old British institution “Match of the Day” was reduced from its regular one and a half hours of footage and commentary to a 20-minute collection of game clips, with no commentary or punditry and only the screams and boos of the stadium people as a soundtrack.
Also, there won’t be any player interviews following the game. As a result, “players involved in today’s games will not be asked to take part in interviews with ‘Match of The Day,'” according to the Professional Footballers’ Association, which claimed that several players planned to boycott the programme.
The union referred to it as a “common sense option” in order to protect players from punishment for breaking their broadcast obligations.
The BBC expressed its regret for the changes, which it acknowledged will disappoint BBC sport fans. We are making a lot of effort to fix the problem and anticipate doing so soon.
Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, also intervened, pleading with Lineker and the BBC to resolve their dispute.
“Gary Lineker is a talented broadcaster in addition to being a fantastic footballer. It is rightly an issue for them, not the government, he said, adding that he hoped the present dispute between Gary Lineker and the BBC could be handled quickly.
Before Lineker, 62, took over as the main “Match of the Day” presenter in 1999, he was already well-known in Britain.
He was the top scorer at the 1986 World Cup and concluded his international career with 48 goals in 80 games for England, making him one of the most admired players in English soccer.
Following his retirement from a career that saw him play for Barcelona, Tottenham, Everton, and Leicester, Lineker has emerged as one of the UK’s most important media icons and the highest-paid celebrity at the BBC, taking in 1.35 million pounds ($1.6 million) in 2017.
Lineker, an active user of social media with 8.7 million followers on Twitter, has long irritated right-of-centre politicians and activists with his liberal opinions, which include criticism of Britain’s decision to exit the European Union.
On Tuesday, Lineker’s account tweeted that the government’s intention to jail and deport migrants who arrive by boat was “an enormously cruel policy geared at the most vulnerable individuals in language that is not different to that employed by Germany in the 1930s.” This sparked the latest uproar.
Lineker’s Nazi comparison was deemed disrespectful and inappropriate by the Conservative administration, and some politicians suggested that he be sacked.
Sunak stated that the only way to “stop this cycle of sorrow once and for all” was for the government to prevent individuals from traveling in perilous tiny boats across the English Channel.
Lineker will “step aside” from “Match of the Day,” the BBC announced on Friday, until it has “an agreed-upon and unambiguous position on his usage of social media.” Lineker returned to his hometown of Leicester on Saturday to watch Leicester City play Chelsea in the Premier League but has yet to make a public statement. When he arrived for a game that Chelsea won 3-1, spectators cheered for him.
The 100-year-old BBC is funded by a license fee paid by every household with a television. BBC news personnel are prohibited from expressing political beliefs, and the BBC is required to be neutral in its news coverage.
As a freelancer who does not work within news or current affairs, Lineker is not subject to the same regulations and has occasionally gone beyond what the BBC deems acceptable. In a tweet about the purported Russian payments to the Conservative Party, Lineker was deemed to have violated impartiality rules by the BBC last year.
The BBC’s impartiality has recently come under fire following disclosures that its chairman, Richard Sharp, a Conservative Party contributor, assisted in securing a loan for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2021, only weeks before Sharp was chosen for the BBC position on the advice of the government.
Greg Dyke, a former director general of the BBC, claimed the organization “undermined its own credibility” by appearing to yield to political pressure.
In response to political pressure from Conservative parliamentarians, the BBC was “caving in,” according to Keir Starmer, leader of the biggest opposition Labour Party.
He stated, “They got this one horribly wrong and they’re now very, very exposed.
