Gary Lineker to leave BBC after antisemitism row
LONDON: Former England football captain Gary Lineker will leave the BBC at the end of the season, it was announced on Monday, days after he shared a social media post that contained antisemitic imagery. The corporation's highest-paid presenter had been due to front coverage of the 2026 World Cup and next season's FA Cup.
But this Sunday's Match of the Day, on the last day of the Premier League season, will be his final show. 'Gary Lineker will leave his presenting role following the conclusion of Match of the Day for the 2024/25 season,' the BBC said in a statement.
'He will not be part of the BBC's coverage of the 2026 World Cup or next season's FA Cup coverage.' Last week Lineker shared an Instagram story about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic insult.
He removed the post and apologised unreservedly, saying he would 'never knowingly share anything antisemitic'. In a fresh statement on Monday, Lineker restated that he did not know about the post's antisemitic connotations. 'I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am,' he said. 'Steping back now feels like the responsible course of action.'
He added: 'Football has been at the heart of my life for as long as I can remember—both on the pitch and in the studio. 'I care deeply about the game, and about the work I've done with the BBC over many years. As I've said, I would never consciously repost anything antisemitic—it goes against everything I stand for.'
'Defining voice'
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.' Davie defined Lineker as a 'defining voice in football coverage for the BBC for over two decades,' thanking him for his contribution.
Lineker had already planned to end his 26-year stay as host of popular Premier League highlights programme Match of the Day at the end of the season. The 64-year-old earned £1.35 million ($1.8 million) a year from the publicly funded broadcaster and he was one of their most recognisable faces.
But his outspoken views on social media have previously caused headaches for BBC bosses due to the corporation's rules on impartiality. In March 2023, Lineker was briefly taken off air after comparing the language used to launch a British government asylum policy to the rhetoric of Nazi-era Germany.
Lineker was reinstated just over a week later—after a revolt by several of his colleagues in solidarity—but the BBC launched an independent review of its social media guidelines as a result of the incident. He was also among 500 other high-profile figures who signed an open letter in February urging the BBC to rebroadcast a documentary, Gaza: 'How To Survive A Warzone,' to BBC iPlayer.
Before becoming a major figure in the British media industry, Lineker was a global football star, winning the World Cup Golden Boot for England in 1986. After a playing career at Leicester, Everton, Barcelona, Tottenham and Japan's Nagoya Grampus Eight, he retired in 1994.
Lineker became a pundit for the BBC before taking over as the lead presenter for its football coverage in 1999. The former England striker is the co-founder of Goalhanger Podcasts, makers of the popular The Rest Is History series and various spin-offs. – AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
4 days ago
- Arab Times
Jessie J announces breast cancer diagnosis in emotional video
LONDON, June 4: British pop star Jessie J has revealed that she has been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. In an emotional video shared with her fans on social media Tuesday, the 37-year-old singer described the diagnosis as a 'shock,' but assured followers that it was detected early. 'Cancer sucks in any form,' Jessie said. 'But I'm holding onto the word early.' The diagnosis came just before the April 25 release of her comeback single, No Secrets, marking her return to music after a four-year hiatus. Jessie, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, said she would undergo surgery following her performance at Capital FM's Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium on June 15. In her video, Jessie admitted she wrestled with whether to share the news publicly but ultimately decided to be open with her fans. 'I want to share it. I've always shared everything that I go through in my life,' she said. 'Before No Secrets came out, I was diagnosed with early breast cancer. I have been in and out of tests throughout this whole period. I'm not processing it because I'm working so hard.' She added with characteristic humor, 'It's a very dramatic way to get a boob job.' Jessie confirmed that she plans to "disappear for a bit" after her June concert to undergo surgery. "I will come back with massive ts and more music," she joked, before clarifying, 'No, I'm not getting massive ts. Or am I? No, no… I must stop joking.' Keeping the mood light in the post's caption, she quipped: 'No (more) Secrets — and is it too soon to do a remix called Living My Breast Life?' She explained that humor has always been a coping mechanism during difficult times. 'All jokes aside… This last two months have been so amazing, and having this go on alongside it has given me the most incredible perspective,' she wrote. 'BUT... your girl needs a hug.' Later, in an Instagram Story, she reflected, 'Just shared something super personal I've been holding onto for 9 weeks. The timing has been mad but beautiful... But honestly, I need to process it. I need a hug.' Following her announcement, Jessie received an outpouring of support from fellow artists and fans. Pop star Rita Ora commented, 'You're literally my favourite person and I'm praying for you. My mother had it, and I know surgery and any treatment is mentally tough — I'm here for you.' Paloma Faith added, 'Sending so much love. I have every confidence you will beat this.' Singer Marvin Humes wrote, 'Ain't no one stronger than you… you've got this,' while his wife, Saturdays singer Rochelle Humes, added, 'We love you so much.' Amy Dowden, Strictly Come Dancing star and breast cancer survivor, wrote: 'Sending so much love and strength.' Jessie's diagnosis adds to a long list of personal challenges she has overcome. She suffered a miscarriage in 2021 — the emotional experience forming the inspiration behind No Secrets. Two years later, she welcomed her son, Sky, with basketball player Chanan Colman. She recently shared a sweet moment about motherhood: 'Whenever Sky hears me singing, he looks at everyone in the room and says, 'Mummy's singing.' He finishes the songs I sang to him when he was a baby.' Jessie has also battled multiple health issues since childhood. Diagnosed with heart disease at nine, she suffered a stroke at 17 just after graduating from the BRIT School and signing her first record deal. In 2021, she revealed she went temporarily deaf, a condition that delayed a previous album. At an April appearance during Advertising Week Europe in London, she said: 'My health has always kept me balanced. All these things have felt like they were keeping my feet on the ground.' Despite these hardships, Jessie maintains a forward-looking spirit. 'Living in fear doesn't stop the thing you're scared of from happening,' she said. 'I may as well live in the moment while [my son] is not hurting himself, instead of being scared that he is.' Jessie continues to promote No Secrets, the lead single from her upcoming sixth studio album, even as she prepares for surgery. 'To get diagnosed with this as I'm putting out a song called No Secrets, right before Living My Best Life — which was all pre-planned — I mean, you can't make it up,' she said with a smile. True to form, Jessie is facing her diagnosis with humor, honesty, and unflinching openness — a combination that has defined her career and connected her with fans around the world.
Kuwait Times
01-06-2025
- Kuwait Times
Comedian Russell Brand pleads not guilty to rape, sexual assault charges
British comedian and actor Russell Brand pleaded not guilty Friday at a London criminal court to five charges of sexual offences including rape and sexual assault. The media personality turned anti-establishment influencer faces one count of rape, one of oral rape, two of sexual assault and one of indecent assault between 1999 and 2005, involving four women. Crowds were waiting as Brand, 49, arrived at Southwark Crown Court in an open-buttoned shirt and dark blazer for the plea hearing, after being granted conditional bail at a previous hearing. He gained international recognition as the husband of pop star Katy Perry, but is better known in the UK for his hyper-sexualized and often lewd comedy routines and TV and radio appearances in the early 2000s. Now living partly in the US, Brand appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in central London earlier this month, where he showed no emotion as a prosecutor read out allegations against him. On Friday Brand appeared in the dock flanked by two officers, where he stood stock-still and looked straight ahead as he delivered his pleas. He is now due to stand trial next year, on June 3, 2026. Prosecutors charged Brand following a police probe into allegations aired in a 2003 Channel 4 documentary. He is accused of raping one woman in a hotel room following an event in the southern Bournemouth area in 1999. Another charge relates to the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2004 in central London. The accusations involve four women, including one who was a TV worker, and another who was a radio station worker at the time of the alleged assaults. In a video response on X after he was charged in April, Brand said he was 'grateful' for the 'opportunity' to defend himself. Conservative guru 'I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was was a rapist. I've never engaged in non-consensual activity,' he said in the video. Born in 1975 to working-class parents in Essex, east of London, Brand began his stand-up career as a teenager, eventually working as an MTV presenter and host of a Big Brother spin-off. He presented a show on the BBC's Radio 2 station between 2006 and 2008, but quit after an on-air prank when he left a sexually explicit voicemail for 'Fawlty Towers' actor Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter. Once a left-leaning political campaigner and Hollywood star, he has rebranded himself as a conservative guru to his millions of social media followers. Brand often peddles in conspiracy theories, as well as sharing wellness tips, in his anti-establishment videos. Last year, he said he became a Christian after being baptized in the Thames river. — AFP
Kuwait Times
01-06-2025
- Kuwait Times
Experts point out how TV's Dr House often got it wrong
He's the maverick medic who loved to confound the medical establishment with his brilliant, unorthodox diagnoses. But Dr Gregory House, the misanthropic genius who was the star of the long-running 'House' television series, got an awful lot wrong himself, Croatian doctors claim. From a neurologist at work on the wrong end of a patient by performing a colonoscopy, or an MRI scan done by a physician who is clearly not a radiologist, Croatian researchers have pulled the American series up on its medical accuracy in a paper published this month. Denis Cerimagic, a professor at Dubrovnik University, and two fellow neurologists -- all big fans of the series -- listed 77 errors after analyzing all 177 episodes of the show, which ran from 2004 to 2012. 'We focused on the diagnoses of main cases, reality of clinical practice presentation and detection of medical errors,' Cerimagic told AFP. He and his peers -- Goran Ivkic and Ervina Bilic -- broke the mistakes down into five categories including misuses of medical terminology, misinformation and simple weirdness -- something which the show's anti-hero, played by British star Hugh Laurie, possessed in abundance. That limp They included the use of mercury thermometers -- which had long given way to digital ones -- the term heart attack and cardiac arrest being used interchangeably when they are not the same, and that vitamin B12 deficiency can be corrected with just one injection. Nor is there a universal chemotherapy for all types of malignant tumors, as one episode suggested. But arguably the biggest error of all is that Laurie -- whose character's genius for deduction comes from the misdiagnosis that left him with a limp and chronic pain -- uses his cane on the wrong side. The stick should be carried on his unaffected side, Cerimagic said, though he understood why the actor had done it because 'it's more effective to see the pronounced limp on the screen'. Their research also found medical procedures being done by specialists who had no business being there, like an infectologist performing an autopsy. At times the series also stretched reality beyond breaking point, with the findings of complex laboratory tests done in just a few hours. And doctors rarely turn detective and take it upon themselves to enter patients' homes to look for environmental causes of illnesses. Not to mention Dr House's unethical behavior -- 'Brain tumor, she's gonna die' the paper quoted him as saying -- and the character's opiates addiction. The researchers say they may have missed other mistakes. 'We are neurologists while other medical specialists would certainly establish additional errors,' Cerimagic added. Medical errors Whatever their criticisms, the researchers say that modern medical series are far better produced than in the past, thanks to medical advisors. It is not like some 20 years ago when you had doctors looking at X-rays upside down, the neurologist said. 'Now only medical professionals can notice errors,' Cerimagic said. Despite its flaws, they thought the series could even be used to help train medical students. 'The focus could be on recognizing medical errors in the context of individual episodes, adopting the teamwork concept and a multidisciplinary approach in diagnosis and treatment,' Cerimagic said. He said he and his colleagues were taken aback by the response to their paper 'House M.D.: Between reality and fiction' -- which is not the first academic study to cast doubt on the good doctor and his methods. 'The idea was to make a scientific paper interesting not only to doctors but also to people without specific medical knowledge.' - AFP
