More than 100,000 people have signed a petition for the BBC to rehire Gary Lineker as Match of the Day host, with the campaign surpassing the 100,000 milestone in only 12 hours.
The BBC has banned Lineker from his Match of the Day responsibilities following a tweet criticising the government’s new asylum policy.
This caused a number of regular programme experts, including Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Alex Scott, Micah Richards, and Jermaine Jenas, to indicate that they will not be present on Saturday night.
Nevertheless, a slew of other celebrities, including Piers Morgan and Dan Walker, have backed Lineker.
Now, 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for his reinstatement.
The petition had 115,651 signatories at the time of writing.
‘Gary Lineker has been forced to stand down from presenting Match of the Day after tweeting criticism of the government’s migrant policy,’ it says.
‘As a freelance sports presenter, Mr Lineker should be able to share his personal views on current affairs.
‘Many other BBC faces have posted controversial opinions on social media without sanction.’
It adds that The Mirror, who created the petition, believes Lineker ‘should be able to return to our screens as soon as possible’.
One person who signed the petition wrote: ‘A disgraceful decision and an assault on freedom of speech.’
Another said: ‘Gary Lineker should not be silenced and the BBC should be ashamed of themselves.’
The petition began when Lineker was asked to stand down as host of the show following his criticism of the Government’s immigration strategy aimed at preventing unauthorised boats carrying migrants from entering the UK.
The footballer-turned-pundit had responded to a video posted on Twitter by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in which she called for a new Illegal Migration Bill to ‘stop the boats,’ calling it a ‘immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s.’
He later claimed that he stood by his message and said that he will be hosting Match Of The Day again on Saturday.
However, the BBC on Thursday issued a statement saying: ‘Gary Lineker to step back from presenting Match of the Day until agreement reached on social media use’.
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.
‘The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match Of The Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.
‘When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none.
‘We have never said that Gary should be an opinion-free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.’
In the tweet earlier this week, Lineker wrote: ‘Good heavens, this is beyond awful.
‘The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match Of The Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.
‘When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none.
‘We have never said that Gary should be an opinion-free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies.’
After the statements, it was later claimed that Lineker had been contacted by the BBC, with some sources indicating that his career might be jeopardised, while Braverman has been invited to reply in interviews with Good Morning Britain and BBC Breakfast.
Braverman subsequently stated that she is ‘obviously disappointed’ by his remarks.