Ian Wright has launched a fervent defense of his friend and Match of the Day host Gary Lineker.
The 62-year-old MOTD hero has been forced to’step back’ from the BBC’s football show after violating the BBC’s’social media guidelines’ by comparing the language used to introduce a new Government asylum policy to 1930s Germany.
‘Everyone knows what Match of the Day means to me, but I’ve told the BBC I won’t be doing it tomorrow,’ Wright tweeted on Friday night. Solidarity.’
Since then, the show’s production crew has been in turmoil, with Alan Shearer and other presenters, experts, and commentators all announcing that they will not be appearing on tonight’s show.
On Friday’s ‘Wrighty House’ podcast, the former Arsenal striker stated that if the BBC gets rid of Lineker, he will leave the show entirely.
Ian Wright has launched a fervent defense of Gary Lineker, threatening to leave the BBC if the broadcaster decides to fire the popular Match of the Day host.
Wright was the first to withdraw from MOTD after Gary Lineker was forced to’step back’ from tonight’s show.
‘Before we go, I’ve got to deal with the Gary Lineker stuff because that’s my guy,’ he remarked at the top of the episode.
‘He made a tweet criticizing the government about everything going on with human rights issues and everything here, and it’s the perfect distraction for this government man.
‘Gary’s tweet was the headline news. They need Gary Lineker to distract everybody because for me it is a human issue, it’s not political.
‘They’ve got no empathy, the vulnerable ones are the ones that suffer, they’re the ones that suffer.
‘It starts with words. I think Gary Lineker, he retweeted from a German professor because the Hitler thing is what they’ve all jumped on. He retweeted saying that it all starts with language, it starts with words.
‘They didn’t just start throwing people into concentration camps, it starts with words and language.
‘What they’re doing is the culture war they want us to have, left versus right, “woke, you’re woke, you’re woke’ that is the distraction and I tell you something if they do, the BBC, get rid of Gary Lineker, I am out, I’m gone, I’m not staying there.
‘On his own platform he should be able to say what he wants to say. Gary Lineker, he says stuff on everything and it’s almost like this one has missed everybody because he says so much.
‘But this is so right with what he’s saying. I’ve spoken to Gary. I’m behind him.’
A day after the controversy broke, the BBC is still reeling from their decision to fire Lineker as Match of the Day host tonight.
Football Focus and Final Score have been canceled because presenters such as Alex Scott and Kelly Somers have come out in favor of Lineker.
Following crisis discussions on Friday night, Jürgen Klopp is expected to spearhead a BBC boycott among managers and players.