27 March 2023 , 14:46
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Gary Lineker says he was moved to tears by the show of solidarity from his BBC Match of the Day colleagues Ian Wright and Alan Shearer in the wake of him being taken off air by the corporation earlier this month.
Amid a fierce backlash, Lineker was forced off air and told that he had breached the broadcaster's impartiality guidelines in the wake of a tweet he sent criticising the government's plans to effectively ban the vast majority of people who were seeking asylum in the UK from entering the country.
In the hours that followed the BBC announcement, pundit Wright tweeted to state that he would not be appearing on that weekend's Match of the Day if there were to be no Lineker, with Shearer then following suit.
Fellow pundits, presenters and commentators then joined in the boycott, leading to the BBC putting out a vastly reduced sports offering on the weekend of March 11, including an embarrassing 20-minute Match of the Day with no commentary.
Lineker says he couldn't believe the situation, and detailed his reaction to Wright and Shearer's show of solidarity.
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Speaking to The Rest Is Politics podcast, Lineker said: "It was funny. I was in a restaurant, and then in the back of the car, and firstly when Ian Wright pulled out of the show, and then when Alan did as well, Alan Shearer, and I must admit I had a tear in my eye."
Lineker returned to working for the BBC for the Manchester City vs Burnley FA Cup game on March 18 (PA)The furore began when Lineker quote tweeted a video featuring Home Secretary Suella Braverman outlining the asylum plans, stating simply: "Good heavens, this is beyond awful."
He then replied to a comment on his tweet saying: "There is no huge influx [of refugees]. 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?”
It was that link to 1930s Germany which got the BBC hot under the collar, and they eventually made their decision after the issue had been whipped up by various parties.
Pundit pals Ian Wright and Alan Shearer pulled out of Match of the Day after Lineker was stood down (BBC)Lineker says he still can't understand why it was such an issue, and he was happy to return to the BBC, who insists he "loves" working for, when he was reinstated three days later.
“There was the policy, which when they spelled it out, I thought, I don’t think this is going to work, is it even going to be legal?" he said.
“Obviously we all recognise there’s a massive problem, but it’s going to get worse as well with climate change and stuff like that, people fleeing their countries, and I just thought ‘come on’."
On the Germany reference, he added it "was never meant as any kind of comparison with the Holocaust or anything like that."
Having been quickly reinstated by the BBC, Lineker returned to the screen to host the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley on March 18.