Gary Lineker says his comments about child refugees resulted in him receiving “a bit of a spanking” but dismissed claims by The Sun the BBC was under pressure to fire him.
The football pundit and former England striker was subjected to a torrent of abuse after calling the response to the resettling of child refugees in Britain “hideously racist”.
A front page article in The Sun on Friday declared: “OUT ON HIS EARS! Leftie luvvie Gary Lineker ‘should be sacked’ for peddling charity lie about ‘child migrant, 38’.”
The UK has committed to take more unaccompanied child refugees from the makeshift Calais camp, known as the Jungle, as the French authorities attempt to demolish it. Fourteen teenagers from countries such as Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan arrived in Britain from Calais on Monday.
But a number of those arriving in the UK were accused of looking older than 18, leading Lineker to respond on Twitter: “The treatment by some towards these young refugees is hideously racist and utterly heartless. What's happening to our country?”
A critical article published in The Sun claimed Lineker was accused of breaching BBC impartially guidelines, which state that presenters’ “external activities” must not affect the public perception of the corporation’s impartiality.
In response to the criticism, 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 one tweeted at him to say they hoped he would lose his job because he “deserved it”, Lineker replied unequivocally: “I won’t”.
His spokesperson also had a categorical response to the newspaper’s request for comment: “He won’t be commenting, especially not to you.”
A spokesperson for The BBC said: “Gary is a freelance broadcaster and this is a personal Twitter account.”
