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United Kingdom – Presenters, analysts and players from the English Premier League rallied in support of Lineker’s remarks related to the migration issue. On the other hand, the British national chain is accused of political bias and stifling freedom of expression, while receiving praise from conservative politicians.
The protagonist of this news is Gary Lineker, presenter of the Match of the Day program, on the British channel BBC, since 1999. At 62, he is the channel’s highest-paid star, with a salary of about US$1 ,62 million in the 2020-2021 season.
This week he was suspended as the presenter of the BBC’s flagship sports program and, according to the company, he will remain so until an agreement is reached on his use of social networks.
This occurs after the driver criticized the British government’s new asylum policy on his Twitter profile, once the UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, announced the British government’s plans to ban those who arrive from applying for asylum. to that country illegally, in an attempt to address the increase in the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats.
There is no huge influence. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?
—Gary Lineker ?? (@GaryLineker) March 7, 2023
A public reaction set the fire
Lineker reacted to this on Twitter saying it was an “immeasurably cruel policy targeting the most vulnerable people in language not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s.”
Phrase that is consistent with the behavior of the former soccer player, who has housed asylum seekers and has publicly called for better rights and protections to be granted to refugees.
However, Braverman responded to Lineker’s message by saying that it “underplays the unspeakable tragedy” of the Holocaust. So the Conservative government called Lineker’s Nazi comparison offensive and unacceptable; some lawmakers even said he should be fired.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the policy proposal, saying stopping the arrival of small boats is a “priority” for the British people. In the statement he reaffirmed the government’s plan to discourage people from making dangerous journeys across the English Channel in small boats, saying it was the only way to “break this cycle of misery once and for all”.
Internal and external criticism
The BBC said: “Lineker’s recent social media activity was a breach of our rules.” He added that he should “stay well away from taking sides on partisan political issues or political controversies.”
“We’ve never said that Gary should be someone who doesn’t have opinions or can’t get perspective on issues that matter to him, but we’ve said that he should stay well away from taking sides on partisan political issues or political controversies,” he said.
For his part, the general director of the BBC, Tim Davie, apologized for the inconveniences in sports programming and assured that he was working to solve this situation. In addition, in an interview with the BBC, he denied that Lineker’s suspension had been the result of government pressure.
The viewers, the affected
So instead of general Saturday coverage of the world’s most popular league, the BBC did not offer radio or television preview shows or an early afternoon recap of the final results of Premier League games. The Football Focus show was replaced with a rerun of the Bargain Hunt antiques show, while Final Score was changed to The Repair Shop.
In parallel, colleagues from the Match of the program such as Day Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas stated that they would not appear on the broadcast in support of the main presenter. For what was broadcast this Saturday in 20 minutes without a presenter in the studio or experts or regular commentators. Additionally, other BBC football show presenters withdrew from their broadcasts for the same reason.
And the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) has confirmed that players and managers from the 12 Premier League clubs, which play games on Saturday, will not receive interview requests for Match of the Day.
To complete, Gary Lineker went to the stadium to watch the Leicester City game against Chelsea and took photos with the fans, who supported him. In general, his comments have received wide support on social networks and now, everyone is waiting for how the BBC will manage to get around this situation.
With EFE, AP and BBC
