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11th March 2023
02:47pm GMT
Ian Wright has given the BBC an ultimatum, saying he will quit Match of the Day (MOTD) if Gary Lineker isn't reinstated.
The corporation said Friday that the former footballer would be “stepping back” from his hosting role on the football highlights show until they found an “agreed and clear position” on his use of social media. The 62-year-old sent a tweet critical of the government and has been embroiled in a row over impartiality ever since.
In response to a Home Office video – in which home secretary Suella Braverman shared plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel on small boats – Lineker wrote that the language used was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”. He later insisted he stood by the tweet, which led to the BBC taking him off air.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines."
Wright, who pulled out of appearing on MOTD along with Alan Shearer and a host of commentators,
has now said he is "gone" if the BBC don't bring Lineker back.
The decision to pull Lineker has led to not only his MOTD team taking a stand but a host of other BBC presenters and pundits, including Alex Scott.
In the latest episode of podcast, Wrighty’s House, Wright said: "If they do, the BBC get rid of Gary Lineker, I’m out. I’m gone, I’m not staying there."
He added: "On his own platform he should be able to say what he wants to say."
Wright branded the controversy a "perfect distraction for this government".
"They need Gary Lineker to distract everybody because for me it is a human issue, it’s not political," he said.
Wright went on to say "they didn’t just start throwing people into concentration camps, it starts with words and language".
Wright went further in his attack of the Tory government, saying: "They’ve got no empathy, it’s always the most vulnerable ones that suffer."
Over 100,000 people signed a petition to reinstate Lineker to MOTD in just 12 hours. The petition, as of Saturday afternoon, has 165,000 signatures.
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