Gary Lineker leaves BBC after apologising for post that drew anti-Semitism complaints
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Football presenter Gary Lineker walks outside his home, after resigning from the BBC after 25 years of presenting Match of the Day.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON – Gary Lineker, a former England football captain who became the face of the sport on British TV, will leave the BBC after apologising for sharing a social media post about Zionism that drew complaints over anti-Semitism.
Lineker, 64, the golden boy of English football in the 1980s and early 1990s who scored 48 times for his country, moved into broadcasting after hanging up his boots, presenting the BBC’s flagship Match of the Day (MOTD) highlights show since 1999.
The former striker, known for never receiving a yellow card during his 16-year playing career, was the broadcaster’s highest-paid star, but had repeatedly been cautioned by the officially neutral BBC for opining on politics.
Lineker said on May 19 he would depart after the final Premier League matches of the season on May 25.
He apologised “unreservedly” last week after sharing a social media post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, historically used as an insult against Jews.
“Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season,” BBC director-general Tim Davie said.
Lineker, who was paid £1.35 million (S$2.34 million), was already set to step down from MOTD in 2025 but had been due to carry on fronting the BBC’s 2026 World Cup coverage and next season’s FA Cup matches.
He repeated his apology for reposting the Instagram post “that contained an emoji that has awful connotations”, saying he would never consciously share anything anti-Semitic.
“It was a genuine mistake and oversight, but I should have been more diligent,” he said in a video announcing his decision to leave the BBC.
“I’ve stood up for minorities and humanitarian issues and against all forms of racism all of my life, including, of course, anti-Semitism, which I absolutely abhor.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, Britain’s biggest Jewish advocacy group, which had called for Lineker to be removed, welcomed the outcome, saying: “It is right that the BBC and Gary Lineker have decided that the presenter will stand down from his work.”
After a playing career in which he scored 331 goals in 654 competitive games including stints at Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona, Lineker became one of Britain’s most high-profile media figures.
But in recent years, his strong views on issues such as opposing Britain’s exit from the European Union made him a lightning rod for criticism from right-wing politicians as well as newspapers and other commercial rivals of the publicly funded BBC.
The presenter was temporarily taken off air in 2023 after he criticised the then Conservative government’s immigration policy, but was reinstated after a public backlash and near mutiny at the broadcaster. REUTERS
