Gary Lineker has often found himself in hot water over his outspoken political views and controversial opinions.
From likening the Conservative Party’s crackdown on small boats to Nazi Germany, to defending Just Stop Oil eco-clowns, the star has often enraged the public and got himself in trouble with the BBC.
The highest paid presenter at the corporation, Lineker will reportedly quit hosting Match of the Day at the end of the season after 26 years, it emerged earlier today.
He will also reportedly quit the BBC as a whole after presenting the 2026 World Cup in America, Mexico, and Canada, according to The Sun.
As the end of his presenting career appears to be in sight, MailOnline looks back at Lineker’s string of tweets and troublesome outbursts over the years.
Gary Lineker (pictured) will reportedly quit hosting Match of the Day at the end of the season after 26 years, it emerged today
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured) was slammed by Lineker over her measures to stop small boats illegally reaching the UK
Arguably his most iconic moment on Match of the Day came when he presented it in his underpants in August 2016 after Leicester City won the Premier League title
June 2024
Lineker is slammed for a ‘very disrespectful’ quip at the expense of Scotland manager Steve Clarke.
After Clarke did an interview with BBC Sport, Lineker said sarcastically: ‘Well, you got enough of Steve Clarke’s energy and enthusiasm there, haven’t you?’ before laughing.
May 2024
Lineker claims he tweets about political issues ‘so I can look at myself in the mirror at night’, and says he will continue to share his views in spite of BBC impartiality laws.
‘I don’t think I probably make a blind bit of difference, but it makes a difference to me, and that’s important,’ he said.
‘Sometimes if things upset you or things are joyous, either way, it’s nice to talk about things.’
Lineker added: ‘I don’t do it so I can try and influence. I do it so I can look at myself in the mirror at night.’
May 2024
Lineker is slammed for making ‘tone-deaf’ comments after seemingly referring to the October 7 attacks on Israel as ‘the Hamas thing’.
The controversy-prone BBC commentator made the remark on the British-American broadcaster Medhi Hasan’s Medhi Unfiltered programme.
Discussing the ongoing war in Gaza, Lineker said: ‘I can’t think of anything that I’ve seen worse in my lifetime. The constant images of children losing their lives day in, day out.
‘Now obviously we all know October 7 happened, and the Hamas thing, but the minute you raise your voice against what they’re now doing there, you get accused of being a supporter of Hamas.’
January 2024
Lineker shares a tweet calling for Israel to be punished by FIFA. The star reposts a statement from a pro-Palestinian campaign calling for Israel to be removed from all global tournaments ‘until it ends its grave violations of international law’ – in relation to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
At the time, Conservative MPs ordered the BBC to sanction the star as they wait for Lineker to hold Hamas to account for their atrocities during the Israel-Hamas war.
Gary Lineker has repeatedly come under fire for his political views, which critics say breach BBC impartiality rules
July 2023
Lineker is slammed as a ‘hypocrite in the highest order’ for defending Just Stop Oil eco-clowns who disrupted two matches at Wimbledon that month.
The sports presenter said the attention-seeking eco warriors were ‘not going to hurt anyone’ and that he understood ‘where they’re coming from’.
As Britain settled down to enjoy two weeks of blissfully uninterrupted tennis, two men and a woman caused chaos by storming on to Court 18 and throwing orange confetti and jigsaw puzzle pieces on the ground.
Speaking after chairing an environmental panel at Wimbledon, Lineker said: ‘I completely understand where they’re coming from. Disruptive protest is the only one that gets any publicity.
‘I get it. I also understand why people get so upset with it, particularly in sport. It is a difficult one.
‘I think what is more important is probably our existence in the future rather than slight disruption of sporting events or other things.’
But tennis fans blasted the former England footballer after his comments.
Less than a year earlier, Lineker flew more than 4,000 miles to present at the Qatar World Cup.
One social media user said: ‘Lineker is a hypocrite of the highest order.
‘We’re sick of hearing his vomit inducing virtue signalling sanctimonious and supercilious claptrap.’
March 2023
He calls Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s measures to stop the small boats ‘beyond awful’ and ‘an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s…’
February 2023
Appears to mock Rishi Sunak’s landmark EU deal over Northern Ireland, writing: ‘So we’re getting Brexit done… again.’
February 2023
He shares a video that calls for illegal immigrants arriving on small boats to be granted citizenship.
He wrote: ‘Why leave them to fester in a hotel with the far-Right screaming abuse at them? Give them legal status and get them going.’
February 2023
Lineker posts from an airport arrivals queue: ‘Another monster queue at customs at a European city next to deserted lanes for EU members. The delights of Brexit.’
Lineker has been critical of the Conservative Party’s crackdown on small boats, likening it to Nazi Germany. Pictured: Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
January 2023
The former England football captain retweets a post calling Home Secretary Suella Braverman ‘utterly devoid of sensibility’ after her exchange with a Holocaust survivor.
January 2023
Then-culture secretary Michelle Donelan said the BBC should be ‘conscious’ of recent comments made by Lineker.
Ms Donelan was speaking to The News Agents podcast about remarks Lineker had made on the same show about the World Cup in Qatar and racism in America.
‘There is a problem with impartiality and the BBC, they would say that they’ve recognised that themselves,’ she said.
October 2022
Lineker breached BBC impartiality rules with a social media post criticising the Tories, the broadcaster’s complaints team ruled.
The Match of the Day host, 62, used Twitter to quote an article about Liz Truss – then foreign secretary – urging Premier League teams to boycott the Champions League final in Russia.
In his post, the former England striker, who has more than 8.7million followers on Twitter, added: ‘And her party will hand back their donations from Russian donors?’.
Pictured: BBC boss Tim Davie said Lineker was a ‘work in progress’
September 2022
BBC boss Tim Davie says reining in Lineker’s tweeting was a ‘work in progress’.
August 2022
Lineker sparked a row with a senior BBC journalist with a Tweet about sewage.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘As a politician how could you ever, under any circumstances, bring yourself to vote for pumping sewage into our seas? Unfathomable!’
The tweet prompted veteran BBC journalist Neil Henderson, a home and foreign news editor, to ask the £1.35million-a-year presenter if his contract allowed him to breach the corporation’s impartiality rules.
The journalist wrote to him: ‘The BBC lives or dies by its impartiality. If you can’t abide it, get off it.’
Mr Henderson, following discussions with BBC bosses, later issued an apology.
Lineker was embroiled in a row with a senior BBC journalist following his tweet about sewerage (pictured)
The Match of the Day host and former England captain has been vocal about his political views, having criticised the Conservatives’ handling of Brexit and the migrant crisis
One person demanded Lineker quit after his comments in 2016 about his remarks over the refugee crisis. When someone said ‘you deserve it, hope you lose your job’, Lineker retweeted and defiantly said: ‘I won’t.’
July 2022
Lineker found himself at odds with ex-racing driver turned Sky commentator Martin Brundle over his response to a Just Stop Oil protest.
Protesters stormed the British Grand Prix, sparking fury from Brundle, who said they could have been killed.
Lineker tweeted: ‘History will look back very favourably on these people’.
But Brundle replied: ‘Gary please don’t encourage this reckless behaviour. ‘They’d have been sliced into 100 pieces and fans, marshals and drivers were wholly at risk of injury and death. I totally support freedom of speech and opinion, but do it responsibly.’
Lineker appeared to show his support for Just Stop Oil protesters in July 2022 following their demonstration at Silverstone Grand Prix, which saw some activists storming the track
October 2020
Lineker said he had spoken to the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie ‘quite a few times in recent weeks’ and that Mr Davie was ‘perfectly happy’ with his conduct on social media.
His comments came after new guidelines and training were announced by the BBC to ‘ensure the highest possible standards of impartiality’ among staff at the broadcaster.
December 2018
Lineker’s politically-charged outbursts on social media drew criticism from a fellow BBC colleagues.
Cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew said he would have been ‘sacked’ if her had expressed his political views as openly as Lineker
Broadcaster Jonathan Agnew hit out at the BBC Sport host over the former England football captain’s outspoken political views on Brexit.
Mr Agnew, who is a BBC cricket broadcaster, claimed Lineker was breaching BBC impartiality – and that if he had shown such political views he would have ‘been sacked’.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote: ‘Gary. You are the face of BBC Sport. Please observe BBC editorial guidelines and keep your political views, whatever they are and whatever the subject, to yourself. I’d be sacked if I followed your example. Thanks.’
The message on social media followed a series of tweets by Lineker in which he appeared to slam the Tories, who at the time were holding a no-confidence vote in former PM Theresa May.
‘Extraordinary to watch us take our country back and rip it to shreds in the process,’ he wrote in one tweet, before later retweeting David Cameron’s calls for the Conservatives to back Mrs May, which Lineker shared with crying-with-laughter emojis.
October 2016
The former England striker was slammed over his stance on child refugees after a number were accused of looking old than 18.
The accusation prompted the BBC presenter to tweet: ‘The treatment by some towards these young refugees is hideously racist.’
Lineker was blasted for his take, with critics at the time accusing him of breaching BBC impartiality guidelines, which state ‘external activities’ must not impact the public perception of the broadcasting giant’s impartiality.
Following the backlash, Mr Lineker tweeted: ‘Getting a bit of a spanking today, but things could be worse – imagine, just for a second, being a refugee having to flee from your home.’
When someone replied saying they hoped he would lose his job because he ‘deserved it’, Lineker hit back, saying: ‘I won’t’.
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