Gary Lineker in Tory row after being accused of calling northern voters ‘racist bigots and Nazis’
Gary Lineker has slammed accusations that he called northern voters “racist bigots” as “outrageous and dangerously provocative”.
The recently reinstated Match Of The Day host took to Twitter once again in response to comments made by Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis.
During an interview with Channel 4 News, Mr Gullis said he was not concerned with upsetting members of the “Twitterati”.
Speaking about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s recent legislation on small boats, he said: “It’s certainly tough and upset all the right people in the right places as far as I’m concerned.
“Let’s be clear, when I talk about upsetting people I’m talking about the Twitterati, the Wokerati of north Islington, those champagne socialists who pontificate all day.
“Those are the people I don’t care upsetting, because those are the people who want to call people up here racist bigots, Nazis, like Gary Lineker has done.”
“Outrageous”
Responding to the clip, another Twitter user wrote: “I don’t think Gary Lineker has actually directly called Red Wall voters ‘Nazis’ Mr Gullis.”
Lineker also replied, writing: “No he hasn’t and never would. This is outrageous and dangerously provocative.”
It comes after BBC director-general Tim Davie announced that Lineker would be returning to present Match Of The Day on Saturday.
Mr Davie apologised for the recent impartiality row, sparked by one of the presenter’s previous tweets, and announced a review of social media guidelines at the broadcaster.
Lineker “will abide by the editorial guidelines” until a review of the BBC’s social media policy is complete, Mr Davie said.
The row was sparked after Lineker was taken off air for a tweet comparing the language used to launch a new Government asylum seeker policy to that of 1930s Germany.
He was subsequently asked to “step back” from the popular football highlights show, prompting a boycott by his fellow MOTD pundits and commentators.
Earlier on Tuesday employees at the BBC were invited to lunchtime sessions in Salford so Mr Davie and chief content officer Charlotte Moore could “hear from staff, take questions and reflect on the events of the last few days”.
Meanwhile, Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes also told a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee meeting that the past week had been a “really difficult episode for the BBC” but that she hoped “they can find their way through it”.
Since the row, Lineker has changed his Twitter profile picture to a photo of himself next to a George Orwell quote, which is written on the wall outside of the BBC.
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear,” the quote reads.
Lineker also retweeted a video of former prime minister Theresa May criticising the Government’s proposed Immigration Bill in the House of Commons, describing it as a “blanket dismissal” of those facing persecution.
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Gulled by Gullis, I think this acolyte of the Home Sec should be spoken to by the police and Mr Lineker’s solicitor and the Chief Whip …
How much lower and desperate can these people get just to get a vote? They must be so terrified their willing to say anything and contort anything so they can play on people’s prejudices instead of offering anything constructive to win them over. The vast majority of people are decent and can think for themselves as I’m sure this government will find out in the next election.
So those who put their cross next to ‘Gulled By Gullis’ name must look up to him. That fact alone should put the fear of God in the rest of us but as he is just one of many God help this country…
Most of all thank God he is no longer ‘teaching’ children in the classroom (how many young minds has he already corrupted). He too should be on the prevent program…
For ‘balance’ see ‘Sunak stays silent on Rwanda’s role in DCR war crimes to
save UK’s migrant deal’ on the opinion page in the Guardian…
Years of Boris Johnson lies, even when confronted with evidence of his lies he continues, and never being held to account , has left people like this feeling free to say whatever they want and feel immune to being held to account, as Tory controlled rightwing press and media have aided and abetted them along the way. It now seems like a shock when a Tory says the truth, so the above is seen as the norm for them.
Did Jonathan Gullis. borrow Tim Davie’s gun to shoot himself in the foot?
You mean ‘Grumpy Gullis’ the teacher who never smiled…he taught humanities
(of all things!) to the girls he lived in fear of…another manifestation of Fat Shanks’ Brexit Britain…come on Stoke!
If Laura Kuenssberg or Huw Edwards had made these remarks then I could understand where the BBC are coming from. But Gary Lineker doesn’t report the news or discuss politics, he’s a football presenter.
The corrupt morally void Tories as usual twist the truth by accusing Gary Lineker of calling red wall voters racist bigots & Nazis when in fact he didn’t. His attack was directed towards the fascist Conservatives who have indeed used similar language to demonise immigrants as Nazi Germany did.. Just look at tyrannical Tories response by trying to stir up hatred and hostility towards him. Only recently was it revealed that Lineker’s son had death threats and malicious mail sent to him on Twitter for merely defending his father. Gary Lineker later stated how he challenged Elon Musk to stop… Read more »
This Conservative Government in various guises has been in power for 12 years, they have no intention of “solving” the migration problem, in fact the more of a problem it is and the more chaos the Government can sow the better as they think it works wonders for their base support. How long it will take their “base” support to realise that the Conservatives have no competence on this issue? A very long time, unfortunately.