Will Gary Lineker ever learn? As if the BBC Sports pundit hadn’t caused enough controversy, now the left-wing centre forward has sparked outrage over a pro-Palestine post he shared on Instagram. The Match of the Day pundit took to the social media site to share a reel first posted by the activist group Palestine Lobby featuring an emoji of a rat – prompting criticism that he was pushing an anti-semitic slur. Hardly a display of the impartiality the Beeb promotes, eh?
The former footballer shared a video titled ‘Zionism explained in less than two minutes’, with text written across it: ‘Why does this still have to be explained? Why?’ Next to the title sits a cartoon rat, which stayed on the screen throughout the film – where lawyer Diana Buddu blasts Israel’s attacks on Gaza. While the ex-England captain hasn’t shied away from speaking about his criticism of Israel, his opponents have hit out at this particular reel and lambasted the addition of the rat image – which is seen as being reminiscent of Nazi symbols used to depict Jewish people – for going too far. When Twitter users shared the post online, Elon Musk’s social media site was quick to flag the post as one that ‘may violate X’s rules against hateful conduct’. Crikey.
Now questions are being asked about the future of Lineker’s career at the BBC, given the taxpayer-funded broadcaster’s impartiality criteria. Speaking to the Mail, a Campaign Against Antisemitism spokesperson insisted: ‘As the BBC’s highest-paid presenter and owner of a major media enterprise, maybe he knows exactly what he’s doing.’ They went on:
We will be submitting a complaint to the BBC over this latest post. However, we all know that, no matter how appalling Mr Lineker’s output, the BBC will perform all sorts of mental gymnastics to look the other way. When it comes to Jews, it seems that our national broadcaster believes that the usual standards simply don’t apply.
Ouch. Will the Beeb now take action against one of their star presenters? Stay tuned…
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