Gary Lineker to quit BBC after anti-Semitism row
Gary Lineker is set to quit the BBC on Monday over the anti-Semitism row that erupted after he shared a social-media post featuring a rat.
The former England captain will leave the corporation early by mutual consent as plans for him to front next year's World Cup are axed.
A source told The Sun newspaper that Lineker has acknowledged his position at the BBC has become 'untenable'.
The Telegraph had reported on Friday how Lineker could leave early amid fury from campaigners and Jewish BBC colleagues over a now-deleted Instagram post from the campaign group Palestine Lobby. In an interview with The Telegraph, Lineker also branded Israel's response to the October 7 terrorist attacks as 'beyond depraved'.
He will now announce that next Sunday's Match of the Day will be his last after 26 years fronting the show.
'He offered to step down at the end of the season, and did not want the BBC – an organisation he still holds in the highest of esteem – dragged into any further controversy,' The Sun's source added. 'He remains absolutely devastated by the recent turn of events and is deeply regretful about how his post was interpreted.'
Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, has immediately welcomed Lineker's departure. 'Given the anti-Semitic nature of the content Mr Lineker shared, it is right that he is leaving the BBC,' Cohen told The Telegraph. 'But Mr Lineker's sharing of the post is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. For far too long the BBC has failed to put a stop to Jew-hate and blatant breaches of impartiality on its services.
'All of this has been causing great pain to Britain's Jewish community and consistently undermining the BBC's reputation. Weak leadership by BBC executives has allowed racism against Jews to fester in the organisation for too long. The time for truly effective change is now, starting with unequivocal zero tolerance for anti-Semitism in any form.'
Lineker issued an unprecedented 'unreserved' apology for sharing the rat image, stressing he had done so unknowingly, but his contrition failed to quell mounting anger compounded by his comments to The Telegraph.
The 64-year-old made no mention of the furore as he fronted coverage of the FA Cup final on Saturday, despite calls for him to be dropped for the game at Wembley.
Lineker had been contracted to front the BBC's FA Cup coverage next season, as well as the World Cup. An early exit denies him the opportunity to bow out at next summer's tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The seriousness of Lineker's 'anti-Semitic' rat post was reflected in his unprecedented apology on Wednesday, which was not enough to quell anger from BBC colleagues demanding he be sacked. Lineker had never previously shown contrition for expressing his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
He also did not say sorry in 2023 for comparing the then government's rhetoric over its immigration policy to that of Nazi Germany, despite it triggering a BBC suspension that was lifted when colleagues walked out in support of the presenter.
The former England captain said in a statement on Wednesday: 'On Instagram I reposted material which I have since learnt contained offensive references. I very much regret these references. I would never knowingly share anything anti-Semitic. It goes against everything I believe in.
'The post was removed as soon as I became aware of the issue. Whilst I strongly believe in the importance of speaking out on humanitarian issues, including the tragedy unfolding in Gaza, I also know that how we do so matters.
'I take full responsibility for this mistake. That image does not reflect my views. It was an error on my part for which I apologise unreservedly.'
Lineker, who earned £1.35 million in BBC pay last year, is lauded as an accomplished broadcaster, but has become an increasingly divisive figure among viewers.
His denial that he spotted the cartoon rat, used by the Nazis as a slur against Jewish people, had failed to calm anger among critics. The image had accompanied a video in which Canadian-Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu attacked Israel's war in Gaza.
The source with understanding of Lineker's situation told The Sun of his departure: 'It is a heartbreaking end to an extraordinary broadcasting career.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Race Across the World winners beat runners up by just 19 minutes
Race Across the World has crowned its winners, with Caroline and Tom beating sisters Letitia and Elizabeth by just 19 minutes. The mum, 61, and son, 21, threw their arms around each other as they became the first to make it to the finish line in Kanniyakumari in India, after travelling over 14,000km through China, India and Nepal on a budget of around £1,000 a person. Tearful, Caroline admitted that she had felt like "a failure" at the start of the journey. "We must never doubt ourselves again - ever ever ever!" she exclaimed as the pair realised they had won the race and the £20,000 prize. The last leg of the race aired on the BBC show on Wednesday, 11 June, with the contestants making their way from Panaji in India to Kanniyakumari, the southernmost tip of the country. Caroline and Tom set off first, having won the previous leg, but came to a standstill as they waited for bus tickets. Brothers Melvyn and Brian were the last to set off from the previous checkpoint hotel, having arrived there last. They had previously vowed to pick up the pace, with Brian insisting: "We have moved from fourth to first before, and we will do it again." They decided "bombing it South" was the best strategy and they looked to be on track after a huge splurge when they splashed out £173.08 - almost 40% of the money they had left - on a taxi to get them as far along as possible. However, Caroline and Tom managed to secure onward travel faster and made it to the final checkpoint at Vattakottai Fort first after a tense boat race and a foot race. They looked nervous as they turned the page of the checkpoint book to see that nobody else had written in it yet. Gasping with excitement, they hugged, and Caroline, who has been candid about feeling as if she had no purpose beyond being a wife and mum, told her son: "I felt like such a failure to begin with. We must never doubt ourselves again - ever ever ever... Oh my God!" "It's a really good feeling," said Tom. "I am lost for words, I can't believe it." "I never thought we would come this far, I never thought we would achieve so much, and I have never been prouder of my mum. She got me through it." "Whilst I am standing here sweaty, smelly, exhausted, I am actually feeling on top of the world," said Caroline. She added that it had been "glorious" for her "getting to know my son as a person, as a travelling companion". "We have discovered each other as people, and it's as if the generations between us have disappeared and it has just been absolutely magical," she said. Tom, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child, added: "Throughout the race I have learned the confidence to not care about what people think and I have learned that from mum." Elizabeth and Letitia were second, with the sisters arriving at the final destination just 19 minutes after Caroline and Tom. Teen couple Fin and Sioned arrived shortly after them. Brian and Melvyn had been fan favourites throughout the 51-day competition, as they opened up about their upbringing and about how they hadn't seen much of each other in recent years. And they were tough competition for the other teams, arriving at more checkpoints first than anybody else. Read more: Race Across the World Race Across the World stars reunite including eliminated Yin and Gaz Are you a Race Across the World expert? Take our quiz Race Across the World has triggered 'brilliant change' for brothers Elizabeth and Letitia won the first two legs, but the brothers beat everyone to Shangri-La in leg three, then were the first to Varanasi in India in the following leg. They were pipped to the post by Caroline and Tom when it came to the fifth checkpoint in McLeod Ganj. But they stepped things up and were the first team to make it to the hotel in Sasan Gir on leg six. Caroline and Tom overtook them in leg seven and made it to Panaji first. The brothers looked disappointed as they discovered they had come in last, but noted that they were just three hours behind. "We have done very well actually," said Melvyn. "Twelve thousand miles, three countries, a pair of old codgers... I think we have done well. No regrets. I am really pleased that we have done it together. Many times as a kid I was told I wasn't good enough to do this or to do that, but you can do anything you want to do." "What we have done is we have got to know one another," he went on. "We have rekindled a few lost memories, and we have made a few more." "We are brothers, so yes, we do love each other," added Brian. Race Across the World: The Reunion will air on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday, 18 June.
Associated Press
4 hours ago
- Associated Press
AP PHOTOS: Bruce Springsteen's Berlin concert
BERLIN (AP) — American rock star Bruce Springsteen, long a political opponent of President Donald Trump, performed before tens of thousands fans at a Berlin stadium where he denounced the U.S. administration as 'corrupt, incompetent and treasonous'. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
CNET
4 hours ago
- CNET
This Hilarious Prime Video Caper Flips the Script on British Crime Drama
You can't move for hit British crime shows right now. Whether it's Dept. Q or Adolescence on Netflix; MobLand on Paramount Plus; or Slow Horses on Apple TV Plus (even if that one's technically more of a spy show), gritty and binge-worthy content is showing up on the best streaming services, all delivered in a vibrant array of British accents. Deep Cover feels like a real crowd-pleaser. Peter Mountain/Metronome Film But a shift is happening. We're about to enter cozy-crime summer, when the genre will get an injection of lighthearted comedy, largely thanks to the much-anticipated adaptation of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club book series, set to land on Netflix this August. In the meantime, Prime Video is getting in there first with Deep Cover -- an action-comedy that flips the British crime script from serious to silly in the best possible way. In the film, which arrives on Prime Video on June 12, an unlikely trio of improv actors, all of differing skill levels, is recruited as undercover police officers and infiltrates London's underworld, theoretically to bust a drug ring. Needless to say, am-dram chaos ensues. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a failed stand-up comic turned improv teacher who ropes her two most hapless students into the gang: a method actor with delusions of grandeur, played by Orlando Bloom, and a nervy IT office nerd, played by Nick Mohammed. Together the three, nicknaming themselves Bonnie, Roach and the Squire, fudge their way through meetings with gangland bosses, each more intimidating than the next, and somehow manage to find friendship and romance along the way. I went to the film's premiere at SXSW London last week and came away convinced that Deep Cover should be at the top of everyone's watch list this weekend. The combination of comedy and action lands it squarely in crowd-pleaser territory, somewhere between Hot Fuzz and The Fall Guy. Of Deep Cover's three stars, it's Mohammed who has the most established comedy chops and gets the biggest laughs (you'll likely know him best as Nathan Shelley in Ted Lasso -- the kit man who defects to become a rival coach). That's not to say Bloom, who steps somewhat out of his comfort zone in this role, and Howard don't also deliver. The chemistry between the three lead characters keeps you rooting for them long after their "yes, and..." improv approach to undercover work seems to be failing them. The film's director, Tom Kingsley, has also worked on the Bafta-winning TV show Stath Lets Flats (available on Max), which is simultaneously the most Greek and most British piece of television you could ever hope to watch, and which I've long been convinced is a work of significant comic genius. Deep Cover has the same echoes of awkward, almost farcical humor, but with an Amazon-size budget behind it. Still, as Kingsley explained during a Q&A following the premiere, the budget was far smaller than anyone might expect for such a production. Bringing in bona fide Hollywood stars Bloom and Johnson attracted more funding, as did Amazon hopping on board. But the film was reportedly made on something of a shoestring by Hollywood standards. Still, it's easy to see where the injection of cash ended up. Deep Cover's action scenes are sometimes outlandishly slapstick, perfectly befitting of the three clowns at their center, and at times so graphic or high octane that they don't always jell with the overall tenor of the film. It's a minor niggle in the scheme of things, and one that shouldn't deter you. For all its silliness and stunts, Deep Cover is ultimately a heartwarming tale about developing adult friendships at that stage in life when you might feel like the moments for such opportunities have passed. If you're looking for something easy and fun to watch this weekend, then look no further.
