Gary Lineker
Photo: dpa/Lucy North
And there he is again. Gary Lineker, the ex-footballer who was top scorer at the 1986 World Cup with six goals but never won a league, was suspended by the BBC last week. Now he can go back on the air after an unprecedented wave of solidarity.
Lineker is not only the most popular and, with the equivalent of a good 1.5 million euros, the highest-paid presenter on British public television. He is also the face of “Match of the Day”, the equivalent of the ARD sports show, and has been leading the 90-minute highlight show of the Premier League for 24 years.
He also has 8.8 million Twitter followers. In a debate about the conservative government’s planned tightening of the asylum law, he replied to one of them that it was using populist language that was not dissimilar to “Germany in the 1930s”. Nazi comparisons never calm a discussion, but Lineker was not wrong in the current dispute over refugees in Great Britain. He continues to stand by the statement that freaked out so many Conservatives that the BBC suspended Lineker, citing its policy of political neutrality.
But the broadcaster had not counted on the solidarity of the football community. None of Lineker’s colleagues wanted to take his place in the studio on Saturday, professionals also refused the BBC the usual interviews, and so the program became a mere 20-minute series of video snippets.
The BBC had clearly scored an own goal and brought Lineker back on Monday: “I’m delighted that he will be presenting our program next weekend,” said BBC Director General Tim Davie, announcing an investigation into social media regulations. After all, neutrality cannot be achieved by always dancing to the beat of those in power.
