Goodbye and good riddance Gary Lineker – I am no longer forcibly funding your ill-informed, nonsensical ramblings, says Nana Akua
Goodbye Gary. I thought I would call this one Goodbye Gary – our dear friend Gary Lineker will no longer be on the BBC.
It’s the final countdown for Mouth of the Day. Gary Lineker makes his exit from the BBC, so I thought it only fitting to give him a decent send-off. Frankly, if it were me making the decisions, he wouldn’t get to do his last show today.
But that aside, I thought I’d put together his top three indiscretions…
At number three.. When Gary appeared to claim in the High Performance Podcast that because of his darker skin, he’d experienced racism. I really wanted to make that number one.
At number two, Gary decided to criticise Government minister Suella Braverman for her language, which he complained was akin to language used in 1930’s Germany. So basically Nazi Germany.
He tweeted: “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, and I’m out of order?”
Suella Braverman was not impressed. It is ironic that Gary should be spouting out about 1930s Germany because his latest gaffe was probably that sort of language in itself.
Which brings me to number one, the straw that broke the camel’s back. Reposting an antisemitic trope, Mouth of the Day Gary Lineker proved just how ignorant he is and why people who exist in an ivory tower, insulated from reality, should butt out.
Gary reposted a pro-Palestine antisemitic message that contained an image of a rat, which is an antisemitic trope akin to language used in 1930’s Germany. Sound familiar? He has since taken it down and apologised.
The BBC finally could take no more and sacked him. Tim Davie, BBC Director General, said: “Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season.
“Gary has been a defining voice in football coverage for the BBC for over two decades. His passion and knowledge have shaped our sports journalism and earned him the respect of sports fans across the UK and beyond. We want to thank him for the contribution he has made.”
Now I don’t care what Gary Lineker thinks about anything and of course he’s free to express his views, but if in doing so he breeches his contract with the BBC, a publicly funded broadcaster that requires its talent to stay neutral because we are paying for it, then he should forego the £1.3million salary he earns and leave.
Because I know from my own experience at the BBC that there is no way as a freelancer or contractor that I would’ve been able to get away with nonsense that Gary spouted and remain employed by them.
Gary won’t starve, he’s got his own production company making him millions, and I’m sure some sad washed-out channel may well pick him up and give him a job. And I suspect this will mark the start of his ramblings with his newfound freedom.
Frankly, I don’t care what Gary does or says from now on because I won’t be forced to pay for him. I am astounded that he was even allowed to do his final show on the BBC today, given the antisemitic message he reposted.
So it’s goodbye and good riddance, Gary. You are now free of the BBC and I am no longer forcibly funding your ill-informed, nonsensical ramblings.