Gary Lineker vs. BBC

Well, he has gone.
The BBC will save over a million pounds, which they can spend on something useful...

 

BOGOF - No Ian Wright either.

 

That's surpr ising. I know nothing of football but he was the nation's favourite for years.

 

A little more research and context needed on this thread I think.

 

BBC caves in shock.

 

For starters, it's not a permanent thing.

 

Context...ok here is my 2¢....I am a historian and Jewish:

Where do you want to start with GL...I agree with him....I doubt you want a history lesson...but his comments were about the 1930s...time of the Nuremberg Race Laws that took away the citizenship...ie human rights of Jews in Germany....They used the legal system to make life difficult from a group not unlike what the Tories are doing ...He never mentioned the Holocaust....which began in June 1941 with the invasion of the Soviet Union...GL never said the Tories are killing people ...I hope he quits the BBC....The Tories are hypocrites...they can say what they like ..freedom of speech but if GL does the same ..it is unpatriotic or disrespectful to the Holocaust and its victims....He never mentioned it...never alluded to it....I am Jewish...lost family in the Holocaust...I am not offended! The BBC have capitulated to the Right Wing Tory culture warriors....and they doing it to David Attenborough's upcoming series on the British Isles and the increasing damage to its biodiversity.

 

That remains to be seen. I hope he sticks to his guns in which case it might be.

 

It was the fact they paid him over a million pounds to talk about over-paid young men kicking a
ball around.
Football stopped being a sport many years ago.
Now it’s just an industry worth millions, if not billions.

 

Agreed, but that's not what the OP said.

 

Well, it ought to be.

 

Bravo !

 

Yes, I get that. However I'm currently on holiday in Italy and it's all anyone wants to talk about. People are asking me questions about Leeds United as soon as we get past "di dove sei?" and even if I understand the Italian I don't know any of the answers. Ask the TV advertisers if they think football's irrelevant.

 

Good for Lineker and Ian Wright, I see no reason why an employee of the BBC can't state their opinions off air and in public (it's not like he's a newsreader or involved in current affairs).

Whatever happened to freedom of speech?

IMHO as long as he is being impartial about football that's all that matters to the Beeb.

 

This is a bit concerning for those who believe in free speech because the Tories and right wing loonies demonstrate all the time that morality truth and common decency are matters that are of zero interest to them. A party full of shifty liars, Johnson, Hancock what an appropriate name for see you next Tuesday of an individual, Shifty Raab.....J-- wept just so many names to type out!

 

Shearer has baled out also now.

Excellent news!

 

Alan Shearer too

 

Maybe the BBC can save the BBC Singers, recently slated for disbanding.

On the other hand Lineker is a free agent rather than direct [former] employee of the BBC and I don't see what the gripe is if he expresses a few home truths. If he had got onto a similar track about the owners of Man U or something related to what he has been doing at BBC, then possibly. But he is as free as a bird when off topic in my view. After all the BBC stage and interview much more controversial characters than he is on the news and Question Time etc.

I never liked Lineker since his escapades advertising Walker's Crisps, but finally I see him as someone with the profile to have spoken truth to power with some force.

Just a thought.

Best wishes from George