[Football] Gary Lineker to step back from presenting MOTD

[Titanic]

Gary Lineker to step back from presenting MOTD

Gary Lineker to step back from presenting Match of the Day until agreement reached on social media use - BBC statement

www.bbc.co.uk

Gary Lineker is to step back from presenting Match of the Day until an agreement is reached on his social media use - BBC statement.
It follows an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the government's new asylum policy.
In a tweet, the presenter had compared the language used by the government to set out its plan to "that used by Germany in the 30s".

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

I fell asleep

 

[hart's shirt]

After this morning's MOTD 20 minute repeat, today's televised WSL game on BBC2 was advertised.

With 6 WSL games and 4 EPL games today, MOTD2 might last only 15 minutes if yesterday's pull-outs continue.

In that case, the Women's Football Show which follows straight afterwards on BBC1 might have its largest TV audience.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Where is the letter stating demanding sacking for "speaking his mind"?

Tory MPs demand BBC undertakes independent Lineker investigation

EXCLUSIVE - Three dozen Conservative Parliamentarians have told BBC boss Tim Davie he must start a full and independent investigation into Gary Lineker's comments.

www.express.co.uk

 

[bluenitsuj]

He’s working for an ‘impartial’ organisation. I am in a similar position with my own role, there is plenty of inaccurate nonsense I see on social media (and here) relating to things I’ve witnessed, but I don’t get involved, as I would potentially be subject to disciplinary measures. (Freelance argument doesn’t work for me either all the time he’s taking a salary).

What I would say is that the BBC do need to be consistent though and Sugar particularly seems not to have been subjected to the same scrutiny.

Must admit I don’t have 8.7m followers

Anyway, said the same on the other thread….. not getting involved in the same discussion. Others disagree which is fine. All opinions.

 

[golfingseagull]

What's sad is that the senior appointments are so partisan with direct connections to government etc
Loans, donations, former roles within government that you can't help but think it's smacks of corrupt possibilities even if it wasn't.
My personal point of view is that the Chairman and DG should definitely step down and new less controversial appointments should be made because it is currently double standards
But the new appointments must be seen to be far more independent

 

[Wokeworrier]

I’m sure Lineker’s lawyers will be all over it with a fine tooth comb.

Shirley, they will be too busy with that ongoing tax dispute with HMRC.

 

[keaton]

They didn't mention us. Again.

At least the GB news version of MOTD did

 

[DJ NOBO]

I’m sure Lineker’s lawyers will be all over it with a fine tooth comb.

Just a cursory glance through Twitter would do it.
Tbf to the BBC impartiality has never been easy to police, and with social media it’s even more difficult.
They can have their rules but this shows they can’t control their stars, many of whom aren’t even staff.
They’re stuck now, with the world looking at them.
I believe Lineker has a long and lucrative contract so paying him off won’t look good.
Their best option may be to kiss some Lineker ass and wait for it to go away.

 

[sydney]

Just a cursory glance through Twitter would do it.
Tbf to the BBC impartiality has never been easy to police, and with social media it’s even more difficult.
They can have their rules but this shows they can’t control their stars, many of whom aren’t even staff.
They’re stuck now, with the world looking at them.
I believe Lineker has a long and lucrative contract so paying him off won’t look good.
Their best option may be to kiss some Lineker ass and wait for it to go away.

fucksake ....that is more depressing than you meant it to be ...i'm certain.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Just a cursory glance through Twitter would do it.
Tbf to the BBC impartiality has never been easy to police, and with social media it’s even more difficult.
They can have their rules but this shows they can’t control their stars, many of whom aren’t even staff.
They’re stuck now, with the world looking at them.
I believe Lineker has a long and lucrative contract so paying him off won’t look good.
Their best option may be to kiss some Lineker ass and wait for it to go away.

I edited my post to mention the BBC ruling on Chris Packham in September 2021. The wording is very important.

 

[DJ NOBO]

I edited my post to mention the BBC ruling on Chris Packham in September 2021. The wording is very important.

Hmmm. They said Lineker broke their impartiality rules last year though, with a different tweet . It’s almost as if they make it up as they go along.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I edited my post to mention the BBC ruling on Chris Packham in September 2021. The wording is very important.

"Distinct and separate".

Nobody would know anything about Lineker's views on politics were it not for his opponents (tories in the main) broadcasting them for purposes of shit stirring and cancel-triggering.

Regarding Andrew Neil, I gather he has views that would disappoint or annoy me. I don't care. As a presenter of that politics show with Portillo and Abbott, I though he was excellent. I would never call for him to be cancelled.

Regarding Chris Packham, I like him a great deal and find him interesting owing to his neurodiversity. I have absolutely no idea what his private views are because, once again he keeps them distinct and separate. I can only assume that the sort of shits who have outed GL can't be bothered with Packham because they have sufficient insight (surprising) to realize that bullying a man with Asperger's isn't a good look, even for the current tory party where bullying and purging of 'other' is now de rigeur

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Hmmm. They said Lineker broke their impartiality rules last year though, with a different tweet . It’s almost as if they make it up as they go along.

Absolutely my point, which is why I hope Lineker’s lawyer will be all over it.
At least two paragraphs in that answer stand out to me.

 

[Wozza]

STATE of these people.

GB News does football.

"I imagine Gary Lineker would quite like Brighton because.."

 

[Thunder Bolt]

"Distinct and separate".

Nobody would know anything about Lineker's views on politics were it not for his opponents (tories in the main) broadcasting them for purposes of shit stirring and cancel-triggering.

Regarding Andrew Neil, I gather he has views that would disappoint or annoy me. I don't care. As a presenter of that politics show with Portillo and Abbott, I though he was excellent. I would never call for him to be cancelled.

Regarding Chris Packham, I like him a great deal and find him interesting owing to his neurodiversity. I have absolutely no idea what his private views are because, once again he keeps them distinct and separate. I can only assume that the sort of shits who have outed GL can't be bothered with Packham because they have sufficient insight (surprising) to realize that bullying a man with Asperger's isn't a good look, even for the current tory party where bullying and purging of 'other' is now de rigeur

As you can imagine, Chris Packham is very Green, against fox hunting, and fossil fuels. As stated, his audience is wise enough to separate his personal views from his presenter work on the Beeb.

 

[willalbion]

"f*** that" is where I am.

If you run a private company: fine, be the fascist **** who decides what opinions, feelings and thoughts people can and can not express.
If you are publicly owned company in a democracy: sorry, you shouldn't be allowed to silence your workers, because you have a responsibility to live up to the core principles of a democracy... which includes free speech.

That’s where I’m at.

 

[The Fits]

STATE of these people.

GB News does football.

"I imagine Gary Lineker would quite like Brighton because.."

Wow.
Just wow.

 

[Stato]

The BBC changed its impartiality rules applied to in 2020, effectively to cover high profile freelancers like Lineker.
Lineker’s tweet falls foul of this.
Although the BBC’s pick and choose application of its own rules (see your Alan Sugar tweet) would undermine them if this went further.

Check out the date of the response to the Chris Packham complaint that @Thunder Bolt provided earlier:



That would be after the rule change that you are referencing. Even with the tory activists in charge at the BBC, it seems that left to their own devices, the BBC would have dealt with this through the usual complaints procedure and batted back with no further fuss. The accelerator has been the campaigning by Ministers, MPs and the Mail. That is the problem. Government, and the media effectively working for it, are actively seeking repercussions for those with a public profile who criticise them.

 

[Hugo Rune]

What Lineker didn't do is compare Tory government policy with that of the Nazis, only the language used in the early days of the Nazi party compared to the language used now.

He is right of course.

And then we see the spin.

Right wing spin - Tory commentators and even the Home Secretary link the tweet directly with the Nazi Party’s worst atrocities from the Holocaust in the 40’s and claim it’s antisemitism.

Left wing spin - He didn’t actually mention the Nazi party by name to how can it be that offensive?

Whatever.

The facts are clear though.

In his position, from a professional point of view, that tweet was very ill advised. He must have known the was the opportunity to put as much spin on it as Roberto Carlos got on the ball with that astonishing free kick in France.

Secondly, the actual comparison with language used by the Nazi party in the ‘30s (earlier the clearer) is obvious. Demonising immigrants with the sort of ‘stop the boats’ language was exactly what happened initially in Nazi Germany prior to the unspeakable violence against immigrants superseding the language.

Moving forward, I think that Linekar will not apologise and will rightly keep his role but under a new, crystal clear agreement that takes into consideration if/when he makes these comments again. That could mean measure as simple as putting an agreed disclaimer on his tweets or even the instant cancellation of his contract. These clauses could take a while to be negotiated so I imagine he’ll take a twitter break whilst talks are ongoing and will present MoTD next week.

Thank goodness we weren’t missing the commentary and analysis last night on a game such as the 4-1 destruction of Chelsea, Potter and Cucurella.

 

[sydney]

did jane mckeekin reply so eloquently to the families of grooming victims..??