The BBC was forced to cut much of its UK sports coverage on Saturday after broadcasters refused to work in solidarity with Gary Lineker, as a row over freedom of expression could turn into a crisis for the broadcaster.
On Friday, the former England football captain, BBC’s highest-paid presenter and presenter of the “Match of the Day” sports program, was withdrawn by the broadcaster, after criticizing British immigration policy last week.
Many sports programs were not broadcast as scheduled on Saturday after several presenters refused to do so, prompting the BBC to apologize to viewers.
“We are working hard to resolve the situation and hope to do so soon,” the radio said in a statement.
The dispute with Lineker sparked a debate over the BBC’s impartiality and pitted the government against one of the country’s best-known and most popular sports broadcasters.
Lineker refused to speak to the press when he left his home in London on Saturday. Nor did he answer reporters’ questions when he arrived at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, where he had gone to watch his old team play.
The BBC is committed to political neutrality, but is now under fire from the opposition Labor Party and by commentators in the press who accuse it of silencing Lineker under government pressure.
The uproar follows British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a new law last week banning entry to asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the English Channel.
Lineker, 62, described the law on Twitter as a “cruel policy targeting the most vulnerable people in language not unlike that used in Germany in the 1930s.”
A spokesman for Sunak said the comments were “unacceptable”, and Home Secretary Soila Braverman said Lineker’s reaction to the policy was “offensive”.
In a bid to resolve the row, the BBC said it needed to reconcile with Lineker over how he used his social media before the former player returns to his role as presenter.
But critics of Linker’s comment say he is entitled to his personal opinions, and he no longer hosts a news show.
Saturday’s version of Match of the Day, the show Lineker has hosted for more than 20 years, is on schedule at its usual time, despite his absence. The BBC said the program would “focus on what happens in matches without studio exposure or commentary”.
(Text by Sarah Young in London; additional reporting by Hritika Sharma and Aadi Nair in Bengaluru, Henry Nicholls in London and Toby Melville in Leicester)
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