The BBC’s sports department is in turmoil after the BBC pulled former footballer Gary Lineker from its Match of The Day program after he criticized Britain’s new immigration policy, which attempts to control the arrival of migrants through the Spot to curb. Lineker claimed that the British government is using Nazi-era rhetoric.
After the departure, Gary Linker received the support of the program’s colleagues – Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who declined to participate this weekend. Ian Wright even said in his podcast this Saturday that he would leave the BBC if Lineker was fired for good. Some players announced that they would not give the usual endgame explanations. As a result, the Premier League has announced that there will be no usual short interviews this weekend for the program of the best players chosen on the field.
The English channel said the position taken by the player on Twitter is a “breach of our guidelines”.
“The BBC has decided that Gary Lineker will no longer present Match of The Day until we have a clear position on his use of social media,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
The former striker – the BBC’s highest paid star, who is a freelancer and therefore not subject to the same impartiality rules imposed by the BBC – commented on a video published by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who decision to prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.
After being challenged by another Twitter user, Liniker replied: “There is not a huge influx. We are taking in far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immensely cruel policy targeting the most vulnerable people, in language that none other than the one used by Germany in the 1930s, and I’m the ‘am I nasty?'”.
BBC director-general Tim Davie warned staff against the use of social media when he took over at the end of 2020. Lineker, a former Barcelona, Tottenham and Everton player, has been hosting refugees in his home and has already openly criticized the government’s handling of migrant transitions.
The Conservative government plans to ban asylum applications from anyone arriving illegally in the UK in a bid to halt border crossings which reached 45,000 last year.
Due to this controversy, all BBC sports programs were affected, with several programs not being broadcast in support of Liniker. Match of the Day is still broadcast, but for the first time since its inception in 1964, without a presenter or commentators.
The BBC’s decision has sparked a wave of criticism from politicians and public figures, who accuse the public service broadcaster of giving in to the demands of Conservative lawmakers.
Former BBC director-general Greg Dyke said the broadcaster had made a mistake. “The real problem today is that the BBC has undermined its own credibility by doing this,” he said, adding that it could give the impression that “the BBC has caved in to government pressure”.
Some 36 Conservative lawmakers have sent a letter to the BBC warning that the case will “doubtless shake many people’s already fragile confidence” in the impartiality of the public service broadcaster and demand an apology from Lineker.
The issue sparked years of debate over the BBC’s impartiality, which intensified after the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Brexit supporters claimed business coverage was biased against them, while the left claimed presenters could make derogatory remarks against former Labor leader. Jeremy Corbyn without penalty.
The controversy with Lineker comes in a particularly heated period following news that BBC chairman Richard Sharp enabled a loan guarantee to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the candidacy process for the post.
Source: DN
