LAST UPDATE | 10 Mar 2023
BBC’S MATCH OF the Day is to air tomorrow “without studio presentation or punditry” after several pundits pulled out following the broadcaster’s statement that Gary Lineker would be “stepping back” from presenting the show.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Some of our pundits have said that they don’t wish to appear on the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.
“We understand their position and we have decided that the programme will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry.”
The six-strong team of commentators have also decided to not participate in the show. In a joint statement, they said:
“As commentators on MOTD, we have decided to step down from tomorrow night’s broadcast. We are comforted that football fans who want to watch their teams should still be able to do so, as management can use World Feed commentary if they wish.
However, in the circumstances, we do not feel it would be appropriate to take part in the programme.
In a further development this evening, the BBC is reporting that players from various clubs are in discussions with the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) about a possible boycott of post-match interviews for Match of the Day.
The BBC said earlier that it had “decided” Lineker would take a break from presenting the highlights programme until an “agreed and clear position” on his use of social media had been reached.
Lineker, 62, has been embroiled in a row over impartiality after comparing the language used to launch a new UK Government asylum policy with 1930s Germany.
The announcement from the BBC that he was “stepping back” prompted pundit and former Arsenal striker Ian Wright to tweet that he will not be appearing on the programme tomorrow in “solidarity” with Lineker.
Former footballer and pundit Alan Shearer has also said he will not appear on Match of the Day tomorrow.
Pundit Micah Richards said he was not due to be on the show tomorrow, but added that if he was, he would find himself taking the same decision as Wright and Shearer.
Former footballer and BBC presenter Jermaine Jenas has said he is standing “with his fellow pundits and Gary Lineker”.
Announcing the decision regarding Lineker today, a spokesperson for the BBC said the broadcaster had been “in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days”.
“We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines,” the spokesperson said.
“The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match Of The Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.
“When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none.
“We have never said that Gary should be an opinion-free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.”
The row was sparked by his response on Twitter to a UK Home Office video in which Home Secretary Suella Braverman unveiled the government’s plans to stop migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats.
The ex-England striker wrote: “There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.
“This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ’30s.”
Sky News Correspondent Matthew Thompson tweeted that “Sky News understands the BBC statement on Gary Lineker is incorrect”.
“That Lineker has not agreed to ‘step back’, and has instead been taken off air as he is unwilling to apologise for his comments this week on social media.”
NEW: Sky News understands the BBC statement on Gary Lineker is incorrect.
— Matthew Thompson (@mattuthompson) March 10, 2023
That Lineker has not agreed to 'step back', and has instead been taken off air as he is unwilling to apologise for his comments this week on social media.
Channel 5 News presenter Dan Walker said Gary Lineker has told him “they’ve (the BBC) told me I have to step back”.
Speaking on Channel 5 News, Walker said: “It’s one of those strange situations where I’m actually texting the man himself (Lineker) at the moment.
“And I have asked Gary Lineker the question about whether he is stepping back or whether the BBC have told him to step back and I’ve told him that if he responds to me that I will read out that text on air.
“There’s one word in there I can’t use, but he has said ‘No, they’ve told me I have to step back’.
“So Gary Lineker wants to continue to present Match Of The Day and is not apologising for what he’s said but he’s said it’s a BBC decision to force him to not present the programme at the moment.”
Lineker has faced criticism in recent days from some British politicians.
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused him of “diminishing the unspeakable tragedy” of the Holocaust.
Braverman said she found the comments “offensive” because her husband is Jewish.
“My children are therefore directly descendant from people who were murdered in gas chambers during the Holocaust, she told the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast.
“To kind of throw out those kind of flippant analogies diminishes the unspeakable tragedy that millions of people went through and I don’t think anything that is happening in the UK today can come close to what happened in the Holocaust.
“So I find it a lazy and unhelpful comparison to make.”
Addressing Lineker’s comments, a No 10 spokesman said: “We think that kind of rhetoric is not acceptable and it is disappointing to see, but beyond that it is for the BBC to deal with those matters.”
Linker tweeted yesterday that he was “very much looking forward” to presenting Match Of The Day on Saturday.
He previously told reporters outside his London home that he stood by his criticism of the immigration policy and did not fear suspension by the BBC.
Labour has condemned the BBC’s “cowardly decision” to stand Lineker down from hosting duties on Match Of The Day.
A party source said: “The BBC’s cowardly decision to take Gary Lineker off air is an assault on free speech in the face of political pressure.
“Tory politicians lobbying to get people sacked for disagreeing with Government policies should be laughed at, not pandered to. The BBC should rethink their decision.”
Nicola Sturgeon called the BBC’s decision to stand Gary Lineker down from hosting duties on Match Of The Day “indefensible”.
The Scottish First Minister tweeted: “As a strong supporter of public service broadcasting, I want to be able to defend the BBC. But the decision to take @GaryLineker off air is indefensible.
“It is undermining free speech in the face of political pressure – & it does always seem to be rightwing pressure it caves to.”
Conservative MP and former culture secretary John Whittingdale says the BBC’s decision was “inevitable”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4′s PM programme, Whittingdale said: “I think it was inevitable.
“The problem is that Gary Lineker has made it clear that he wants to go on tweeting his views.
“And he’s of course entitled to hold his views, but the problem is that he is also a very highly – indeed the highest paid – person working for the BBC and is closely associated with the BBC.
“And I’m afraid those two things are not compatible”.
The BBC has this evening defended Question Time’s Fiona Bruce against accusations that she trivialised domestic abuse during a discussion about Stanley Johnson.
The father of former British prime minister Boris Johnson was described as a “wife-beater” by journalist and panel member Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in yesterday’s episode of the show.
Bruce intervened to say friends of the 82-year-old had stated publicly that he had broken his wife’s nose, but “it was a one-off”.
She told Alibhai-Brown and the audience: “I’m not disputing what you’re saying, but just so everyone knows what this is referring to, Stanley Johnson’s wife spoke to a journalist, Tom Bower, and she said that Stanley Johnson had broken her nose and that she’d ended up in hospital as a result.
“Stanley Johnson has not commented publicly on that. Friends of his have said it did happen but it was a one-off.”
The presenter has faced a social media backlash over the interjection, with public figures including Labour MP Kate Osborne and chief executive of Women’s Aid Farah Nazeer accusing her of downplaying the gravity of domestic violence.
BBC statement on last night's @bbcquestiontime pic.twitter.com/Yunqb0Pp4X
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) March 10, 2023
In a statement this evening, the BBC said: “Domestic abuse is abhorrent, and we would never wish to suggest otherwise.
“When serious allegations are made on air against people or organisations, it is the job of BBC presenters to ensure that the context of those allegations – and any right of reply from the person or organisation – is given to the audience, and this is what Fiona Bruce was doing last night.
“She was not expressing any personal opinion about the situation.”
A statement issued later this evening by domestic abuse charity Refuge, for which Bruce is a long-standing ambassador, said the presenter was “deeply upset that this has been triggering for survivors”.
The charity said: “We have spoken to Fiona today, and she is appalled that any of her words have been understood as her minimising domestic violence. We know she is deeply upset that this has been triggering for survivors.”
It added: “Fiona is deeply sorry that last night’s programme has distressed survivors of domestic abuse. Refuge stands by her and all survivors today.
“We continue to be appreciative of all the work Fiona does on behalf of Refuge and recognise the immense contribution she has made to our work to end domestic abuse and challenge violence against women and girls.”
With reporting by Stephen McDermott and Press Association
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