Celebrities
Liam O'Dell
Mar 19, 2023
Match of the Day Live, BBC
After Gary Lineker was asked to step back from Match of the Day over a tweet comparing the government’s new immigration bill to “1930s Germany”, the sports pundit returned to the programme on Saturday.
And his son George is incredibly proud of him – to the extent he’s shutting down trolls coming for his dad.
On Tuesday, he shared one direct message on Twitter in which someone branded his dad a “s***house” and called for George – a tech entrepreneur – to be “burned at the stake”.
Now, after his dad returned to the Beeb and presenting duties yesterday, another tweeter wrote “and the prize for smug t** of the year goes to…”, attaching a picture of the older Lineker.
Naturally, George had an excellent reply for them.
“Ahh bless you, so bitter,” he clapped back, adding a laughing emoji for good measure.
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Other Twitter users backed his response too:
Gary Lineker’s Match of the Day comeback was confirmed on Monday, when BBC director general Tim Davie apologised for what he described as a “difficult period” for “staff, contributors, presenters and most importantly, our audiences”.
He also confirmed an independent review of the broadcaster’s social media policy would be carried out in light of the dispute over impartiality.
Meanwhile, Lineker took to Twitter to write that he was “delighted that we have navigated a way through this” and thanked colleagues for a “remarkable show of solidarity”, after other MOTD commentators also backed out of appearing on the show last week in protest.
“I have been presenting sport on the BBC for almost three decades and am immeasurably proud to work with the best and fairest broadcaster in the world. I cannot wait to get back in the MOTD chair on Saturday.
“A final thought: however difficult the last few days have been, it simply doesn’t compare to having to flee your home from persecution or war to seek refuge in a land far away. It’s heart-warming to have seen the empathy towards their plight from so many of you,” he said.
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