Gary Lineker was forced to delete Lionesses tweet amid backlash as 'people missed context'
Gary Lineker is no stranger to a social media backlash. However, in the summer of 2022, the former Match of the Day host was in the middle of a different online storm.
Shortly after the England Lionesses beat Germany in extra time to lift the 2022 Women's European Championship, Lineker took to X, then called Twitter to express his thoughts.
He re-tweeted a picture of Chloe Kelly's iconic celebration, where she ripped off her top and waved it in the air while sporting a white Nike sports bra, after scoring the winner at Wembley. Lineker tweeted a pun that directly referred to her sports bra.
But his play on words was considered offensive by many. In his post, the World Cup Golden Boot winner wrote: "The Lionesses have only gone and done it, and Kelly is England's heroine, bra none.'
Lineker regularly reacts to events by tweeting a pun or a play on words. However, for many on social media, it was "most unwise" while other fans went one step further and branded it "casual sexism."
The ex-Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona forward eventually deleted the tweet before posting another one to explain the context and intention of the message. He wrote: "It was just a play on words given the celebration.
"I do rubbish like that constantly on here, including on men's football. I've deleted it as many people didn't see the game, so missed the context."
Lineker then uploaded another post praising the Lionesses' triumph, which was England's first senior international tournament triumph since the 1966 World Cup. Tweeting another pun, which was more gratefully received, he wrote: "Football is a simple game. 22 women chase a ball for 90 minutes and, at the end, England actually win. Congratulations @lionesses. Fabulous.'
So far, Lineker is yet to tweet about this year's competition in Switzerland, where Sarina Wiegman's side are still battling. Kelly has also been involved in England's title defence, but is yet to get on the scoresheet in the competition.
After losing 2-1 to France in the opening match of their title defence, the Lionesses responded with a 4-0 victory over the Netherlands and a dominant 6-1 triumph over Wales. They face Sweden in the quarter-final of the competition at the Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich.
Wiegman's side beat the Scandinavians 4-0 in the semi-final of the last competition, which saw Beth Mead, Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Fran Kirby get on the scoresheet. However, both teams are now completely different from that clash at Bramall Lane three years ago.
The England manager insisted they cannot use that prior meeting to inform any strategy for their last-eight battle. Wiegman said: "I expect a very competitive game where it's very hard to predict the outcome.
"They've had a very good group stage like the three wins they had. I think we're in a very good place too and we're ready to go, so hopefully, we can show that tomorrow."
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