Gary Lineker is in hot water once again with less than a fortnight to go until he leaves the BBC‘s Match of the Day.
Earlier today, Lineker shared a now-deleted Instagram video from the Palestine Lobby account that overlaid a cartoon rat emoji on top of an explainer about the Israel-Gaza war.
While Lineker has frequently shared anti-Israel content on social media that has been within the scope of the BBC’s new social media guidelines, the image of the cartoon rat – an antisemitic trope that harks back to 1930s Nazi Germany – has been heavily criticized. Lineker has since deleted the post. The BBC declined comment. Lineker’s reps have been contacted for comment.
Screenshots posted by the Daily Mail of the video, which featured commentary from Canadian-Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu, showed it being flagged up on X as hate speech.
Danny Cohen, who used to run BBC TV but has in recent months been a vehement critic of the corporation, said: “Gary Lineker appears to have shared content about the Jewish state which echoes 1930’s Nazi propaganda. This is utterly grim. The BBC’s Director General Tim Davie has a simple question to answer: ‘Does he tolerate the BBC’s flagship presenters sharing content that has historically been used as an anti-Semitic slur?’.”
A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism added: “We will be submitting a complaint to the BBC over this latest post. Having looked the other way until now, at this point, it is clear that Mr Lineker’s continued association with the BBC is untenable. He must go.”
The controversial post comes more than two years after a tweet by Lineker criticizing the government’s policy on small boats led to a mini BBC presenter strike and an eventual change in the guidelines around presenters and social media. Lineker’s posts have since been the subject of intense scrutiny. He has also announced his exit from Match of the Day after 25 years and only has two more eps until the end of the season.
Lineker, who is the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, will remain with the BBC next year hosting coverage of high-profile soccer tournaments. Last month, Lineker suggested in a tell-all interview that the BBC wanted him to leave Match of the Day.
