Latest news with #AlexKayJelski
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Gary Lineker's bitter feud with BBC worsens as final interview with Mo Salah BLOCKED amid fear pair ‘would discuss Gaza'
BBC chiefs delivered a final snub to Gary Lineker when they axed his last interview without warning — just before his final Match of the Day. He was due to talk to Liverpool goal hero Mo Salah, but there were fears Lineker — involved in an online row over an antisemitic post — would say something controversial about Gaza. 3 3 A source said the plug was pulled by director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski, who got the job last summer. The Sun has revealed there was 'no love lost' between Lineker and Kay-Jelski — with the ex-England hero allegedly giving him the cold shoulder at the FA Cup final. An insider said: 'The plan was for the interview to be shown across the BBC the weekend of Gary's final Match Of The Day. 'That would include on Football Focus the day before as well as online and on social media. 'Out of nowhere, it got cancelled. "Some people think they didn't want Gary and Mo to talk about Gaza. 'Salah has spoken out in his support for Palestinians living in Gaza and Gary has made his feelings clear too. "It felt like it may have come up naturally in conversation. 'It seems they axed it rather than risk possible editorial issues. "They'd only just overcome one storm so to face another would have been a nightmare.' The Sun revealed Gary, 64, was l eaving the BBC after 26 years following his sharing of an Instagram post which criticised Zionism. It included an illustration of a rat — historically used as an antisemitic slur. With the BBC coming under increasingly intense pressure, Lineker issued two apologies, then agreed to step down from his £1.3million-a-year job The ex-Spurs star is understood to be focusing on his Goalhanger Podcasts business, as well as considering rival broadcasters' offers. He had been suspended from Match Of The Day in March 2023 after a post about the small boats controversy, but was reinstated after a boycott by his co-stars. The BBC said: 'The interview was cancelled because it was planned to air after Gary's last Match of the Day. 'It would be wrong to suggest anything else.' However a source insisted: 'A cross-platform interview with the Champions' star player could have aired anytime. "Salah wanted to speak to Gary so to axe it entirely seems short-sighted.' 3
BBC News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Tour of Britain Women joins BBC Sport's line up of women's sport this summer
This summer, BBC Sport will bring even more women's sport to audiences, having secured the rights to show the Tour of Britain Women. The event, which will run from the 5-8 June, will see a record number of 18 teams compete across four stages; starting in the Tees Valley and concluding in Glasgow. BBC Sport will stream every stage live across all four days on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, bringing the race to fans wherever they are. Highlights, clips and key moments will also be shared across BBC Sport's social channels throughout the event. Alex Kay-Jelski, Director of BBC Sport, says: 'The Tour of Britain Women will be another great moment for women's sport this summer and we're delighted to bring this event to fans across the UK through our popular digital platforms. The BBC has a strong track record of backing women's sport. Not just the victories, but the stories, the grit and the passion behind them. And as the UK's most-used sports broadcaster, we're proud to shine a spotlight on this race and its great cyclists.' Managing Director of British Cycling Events, Jonathan Day, says: 'We are really pleased that the BBC will broadcast the Lloyds Tour of Britain women during a huge summer of sport for women. The event is breaking records this year with the number of teams riding across the four stages, so it is brilliant news that the races will be available across BBC Sport's platforms, allowing the British public to follow the action from this sporting spectacle.' BBC Sport's roster of women's sport this summer includes Queen's, Wimbledon, Nottingham & Eastbourne, UEFA Women's Euro 2025, Women's Rugby World Cup, The Hundred and women's cricket international highlights, as well as the World Athletics Championships. Read more: Women's Sport takes centre stage across the BBC in summer 2025 RM4
The Sun
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Gary Lineker's brutal snub of BBC boss days before he quit revealed as he leaves channel for good in antisemitism row
GARY Lineker arrived to host his final Match of the Day yesterday — and we can reveal his bitter spat with his BBC boss. The former England footie captain, 64, looked relaxed in a checked shirt and jeans and smiled as he made his way into the studios. 6 6 6 But it came after he recently left colleagues in no doubt about his feelings on BBC director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski. He was seen to snub his boss and made remarks about him in earshot of staff, it was claimed. Gary was yesterday gearing up to host the football highlights show for the final time after 26 years — having quit amid an antisemitism row. He started in 1999 alongside Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson and had been due to anchor the BBC's World Cup coverage next year after leaving MOTD. But he took the decision to quit the corporation altogether after he was blasted for reposting a video on social media which criticised Zionism with a picture of a rat — used as an insult to Jews by the Nazis. He has repeatedly apologised. Co-stars and close pals Micah Richards and Alan Shearer were also seen arriving at the MediaCity studios in Salford. Insiders said there was no love lost between Gary and his boss Alex, who took over the top job at BBC Sport from Barbara Slater last April. A source said: 'By the end of Gary's tenure at BBC Sport he didn't have much time for Alex. 'When he was working on the FA Cup final, just two days before he quit, Alex came over to where Gary was and he just walked off without a word. 'He made a couple of remarks about Alex in earshot of people working around them. It's clear there's no love lost. Gary is really well liked and there are plenty of people who joked that they agreed with what he said.' Gary Lineker apologises for antisemitic post and confirms he's quitting BBC next week 6 6
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alex Kay-Jelski seeing off Gary Lineker ushers in BBC Sport's ‘new culture'
Just over a fortnight ago, the man who helped pull the trigger on the BBC's biggest beast was already hinting of a change in direction for his staff. An ego-free culture of collegiate working for the digital era was heralded by Alex Kay-Jelski, a year into his reign as the corporation's director of sport. 'There are so many amazing examples across the department of people starting to work together more closely, making new multi-platform plans and going deeper with storytelling,' he wrote in an internal memo. 'Staff are also calling out behaviours they have seen that don't fit into the culture we want.' The all-staff rallying cry will have landed in Gary Lineker's inbox on May 2. Unfortunately, the famous recipient had already set off in a direction undermining such 'working together' demands. Two outspoken interviews, published either side of his self-destructive Instagram post, would ultimately help seal Lineker's fate in the eyes of Kay-Jelski and his inner circle. Credit: garylineker/Instagram Lineker was perceived to have taken aim at BBC colleagues in an Amol Rajan interview last month in which he was probed about his outspoken social media use. 'Why?,' cried Lineker when Rajan put to him that the corporation is duty-bound to be impartial on Israel-Palestine relations. 'It needs to be factual.' Senior BBC figures were taken aback at Lineker's suggestion it 'wasn't impartial about Ukraine and Russia'. When Rajan put to him that it 'sounds like you think the BBC is in a complete mess on impartiality', Lineker denied so, but added: 'I think facts are the most important thing.' The takeaway for Kay-Jelski was that Lineker had learnt little in the two years since his run-in with Tim Davie, the director-general, over his social media post about the previous government's asylum policy. For the likes of Roger Mosey, who managed Lineker as a former head of BBC Television, the clock had been ticking for Lineker from then on. 'I do not think he's a great diviner of BBC editorial policy,' Mosey told Radio 4's Today programme on Monday. 'It's a slightly weird thing when you're watching from the outside of the BBC, giving a platform to its highest-paid presenter to misinterpret BBC editorial policy. That, I think, is part of the problem.' Lineker's antics last week – the rat emoji Instagram post and his incendiary interview with The Telegraph's Oliver Brown – bordered on insulting his paymasters over the past 26 years. For Kay-Jelski, a respected sports editor at The Athletic, The Times and the Daily Mail, it had got personal. Having stirred much intrigue when telling Rajan last month that people within the organisation 'wanted me to leave', Lineker acknowledged to Brown that it had been a 'dramatic change' of regime under Kay-Jelski. 'I think it has, and that's what I was alluding to,' Lineker confirmed. 'He has his reasons, he wants to change Match of the Day a bit. Ultimately, I don't think they will, because I don't see how you move a highlights show away from being about highlights. I think he wants more journalists – he has come from that background. He has got no television experience.' That last sentence will have stuck in the craw as it echoes a challenge that had already been put to Kay-Jelski's inner circle. Kay-Jelski had moved to address such concerns about his efforts to prioritise journalism and storytelling in his last update to staff. Having previously announced redundancies, Kay-Jelski wrote in his May email that '88 per cent of you understand why the BBC needs to transform'. Modernising efforts at the BBC, ensuring its journalists are working across multiple platforms, is being done to 'protect ourselves for the future of the BBC and I can't think of a better reason than that', Kay-Jelski added. During a period of major change, there has been no time to stroke egos like his predecessor Barbara Slater might have done. Slater told MPs in 2023 that 'We love Gary and Gary loves the BBC', but there was no public glowing tribute from Kay-Jelski in a press release confirming Lineker's departure on Monday. There was subsequently an internal email in which he acknowledged the BBC was losing a 'brilliant broadcaster' but the overall message was 'keep calm and carry on'. 'I appreciate the last week has been difficult and emotional for many of you,' he told staff. 'Thank you for all the messages and conversations, even if some of them weren't easy to have. And I hope you understand that I had to wait until now to tell you the news. It is sad to be saying goodbye to such a brilliant broadcaster and I also want to thank Gary for his years of service. As ever, if you have questions, you know where I am.' The decision to tear up Lineker's extended deal was ultimately made by Kay-Jelski's boss Davie. But in many ways Lineker's departure now makes the task in hand more straightforward as a new era begins in earnest at BBC Sport. 'The triumph of Gary's negotiating was to stay with the FA Cup and the World Cup,' said Mosey of what was set to be a 'peculiar outcome'. Instead, Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and new signing Kelly Cates – the new faces of Match of the Day – are Kay-Jelski's undisputed chosen ones. As Mosey observes, 'they won't be put back in the cupboard' for the World Cup next summer. With Lineker's victory lap cancelled, Kay-Jelski may have added a few grey hairs in recent days. Ultimately, however, the task in hand becomes clearer. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Alex Kay-Jelski seeing off Gary Lineker ushers in BBC Sport's ‘new culture'
Just over a fortnight ago, the man who helped pull the trigger on the BBC's biggest beast was already hinting of a change in direction for his staff. An ego-free culture of collegiate working for the digital era was heralded by Alex Kay-Jelski, a year into his reign as the corporation's director of sport. 'There are so many amazing examples across the department of people starting to work together more closely, making new multi-platform plans and going deeper with storytelling,' he wrote in an internal memo. 'Staff are also calling out behaviours they have seen that don't fit into the culture we want.' The all-staff rallying cry will have landed in Gary Lineker's inbox on May 2. Unfortunately, the famous recipient had already set off in a direction undermining such 'working together' demands. Two outspoken interviews, published either side of his self-destructive Instagram post, would ultimately help seal Lineker's fate in the eyes of Kay-Jelski and his inner circle. Lineker was perceived to have taken aim at BBC colleagues in an Amol Rajan interview last month in which he was probed about his outspoken social media use. 'Why?,' cried Lineker when Rajan put to him that the corporation is duty-bound to be impartial on Israel-Palestine relations. 'It needs to be factual.' Senior BBC figures were taken aback at Lineker's suggestion it 'wasn't impartial about Ukraine and Russia'. When Rajan put to him that it 'sounds like you think the BBC is in a complete mess on impartiality', Lineker denied so, but added: 'I think facts are the most important thing.' The takeaway for Kay-Jelski was that Lineker had learnt little in the two years since his run-in with Tim Davie, the director-general, over his social media post about the previous government's asylum policy. For the likes of Roger Mosey, who managed Lineker as a former head of BBC Television, the clock had been ticking for Lineker from then on. 'I do not think he's a great diviner of BBC editorial policy,' Mosey told Radio 4's Today programme on Monday. 'It's a slightly weird thing when you're watching from the outside of the BBC, giving a platform to its highest-paid presenter to misinterpret BBC editorial policy. That, I think, is part of the problem.' Lineker's antics last week – the rat emoji Instagram post and his incendiary interview with The Telegraph's Oliver Brown – bordered on insulting his paymasters over the past 26 years. For Kay-Jelski, a respected sports editor at The Athletic, The Times and the Daily Mail, it had got personal. Having stirred much intrigue when telling Rajan last month that people within the organisation 'wanted me to leave', Lineker acknowledged to Brown that it had been a 'dramatic change' of regime under Kay-Jelski. 'I think it has, and that's what I was alluding to,' Lineker confirmed. 'He has his reasons, he wants to change Match of the Day a bit. Ultimately, I don't think they will, because I don't see how you move a highlights show away from being about highlights. I think he wants more journalists – he has come from that background. He has got no television experience.' That last sentence will have stuck in the craw as it echoes a challenge that had already been put to Kay-Jelski's inner circle. Kay-Jelski had moved to address such concerns about his efforts to prioritise journalism and storytelling in his last update to staff. Having previously announced redundancies, Kay-Jelski wrote in his May email that '88 per cent of you understand why the BBC needs to transform'. Modernising efforts at the BBC, ensuring its journalists are working across multiple platforms, is being done to 'protect ourselves for the future of the BBC and I can't think of a better reason than that', Kay-Jelski added. During a period of major change, there has been no time to stroke egos like his predecessor Barbara Slater might have done. Slater told MPs in 2023 that 'We love Gary and Gary loves the BBC', but there was no public glowing tribute from Kay-Jelski in a press release confirming Lineker's departure on Monday. There was subsequently an internal email in which he acknowledged the BBC was losing a 'brilliant broadcaster' but the overall message was 'keep calm and carry on'. 'I appreciate the last week has been difficult and emotional for many of you,' he told staff. 'Thank you for all the messages and conversations, even if some of them weren't easy to have. And I hope you understand that I had to wait until now to tell you the news. It is sad to be saying goodbye to such a brilliant broadcaster and I also want to thank Gary for his years of service. As ever, if you have questions, you know where I am.' The decision to tear up Lineker's extended deal was ultimately made by Kay-Jelski's boss Davie. But in many ways Lineker's departure now makes the task in hand more straightforward as a new era begins in earnest at BBC Sport. 'The triumph of Gary's negotiating was to stay with the FA Cup and the World Cup,' said Mosey of what was set to be a 'peculiar outcome'. Instead, Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and new signing Kelly Cates – the new faces of Match of the Day – are Kay-Jelski's undisputed chosen ones. As Mosey observes, 'they won't be put back in the cupboard' for the World Cup next summer. With Lineker's victory lap cancelled, Kay-Jelski may have added a few grey hairs in recent days. Ultimately, however, the task in hand becomes clearer.
