Lineker will not present a football program on the BBC by tweet

LONDON (AP) — Former England captain Gary Lineker will not present the BBC soccer roundup program until the two sides reach an agreement on the use of social media, it was announced on Friday. TV channel.

In a Twitter post, Lineker criticized the British government’s new asylum policies and compared lawmakers’ language on immigrants to that used by the Nazis in Germany.

The BBC ruled that Lineker’s social media post violates the broadcaster’s rules. He has had talks with Lineker about his appearance on the ‘Match of the Day’ program which airs on Saturday nights and shows goals and highlights from the day’s Premier League games.

“The BBC has decided that it will not present ‘Match of the Day’ until we reach a clear and agreed position on the use of social media,” the channel said, “

“We never said that Gary shouldn’t give his opinion or that he couldn’t have an opinion on a matter he was interested in, but we told him that he shouldn’t take sides on a matter. political or political controversy.”

Lineker has not made an official comment on this.

Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, other former England players who work as commentators on ‘Match of the Day’, tweeted that they will also not appear on the program this weekend.

Wright said on his social media that he made the decision in “solidarity with Lineker.”

British Tory lawmakers are calling on the BBC to penalize Lineker, now a top commentator and the network’s highest-paid star, for describing the government’s plan to detain and deport migrants arriving by boat as “immeasurably political cruelty directed against the country’s most vulnerable people”. language no different from that used by Germany in the 1930s.”

The Conservative government has deemed Lineker’s comparison to the Nazis inappropriate and unacceptable, and some lawmakers believe he should be fired.

Lineker, 62, is a luminary in Britain, a talented player turned witty commentator. He was top scorer at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, scoring England’s only goal in the 2-1 loss to Argentina in the quarter-finals. He scored 48 goals in 80 games for England.