Gary Lineker has said the BBC should “hold its head in shame” over its failure to show a documentary about the plight of medics in Gaza.
The former Match of the Day presenter said people at “the very top of the BBC” had been failing over the conflict, after the corporation’s controversial decision to drop Gaza: Doctors Under Attack.
It is the first time Lineker has criticised his former employer since he left the broadcaster in May. His departure came after he apologised for amplifying online material with antisemitic connotations. He had reposted a video about Gaza that contained a picture of a rat, imagery used in the Nazi era to attack Jews.
A clearly emotional Lineker was speaking at a private viewing of the Gaza medics documentary in London on Thursday night, where he led a question and answer session with the producers after the showing.
“It needed to be seen, it really did need to be seen – I think everyone would agree with that,” he said. “I think the BBC should hold its head in shame.
“As someone who’s worked for the corporation for 30 years, to see the way it’s declined in the last year or two has been devastating, really, because I’ve defended it and defended it against claims that it’s partial. It talks about impartiality all the time.
“The truth is at the moment, [there is a problem] at the very top of the BBC. Not [all] the BBC, because there are thousands and thousands of people that work at the BBC, that are good people, that understand what is going on here and can see it. We see it on our phones every day. The problem is they’re bowing to the pressure from the top. This is a worry and I think time’s coming where a lot of people are going to be answerable to this, and complicity is something that will come to many.”
The BBC Radio 5 presenter Nihal Arthanayake responded to a video of Lineker’s comments by saying: “Gary Lineker is a good man. He is spot on about the BBC.”
The BBC did not wish to respond to Lineker’s comments. It has previously said it had been attempting to find ways to use the documentary material in news coverage, but a final decision was made to drop the film entirely after talks broke down with its producers, Basement Films.
BBC sources insisted the final decision not to use any of the documentary’s material came after two incidents risked creating “a perception of partiality”.
They pointed to comments from one of its executive producers, who publicly took aim at the BBC director general, Tim Davie, over failing to run it. Meanwhile, Ramita Navai, the documentary’s presenter, appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and described Israel as “a rogue state that’s committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing, and mass-murdering Palestinians”.
This timeline and explanation is disputed.
There has been considerable internal unrest over the failure to broadcast the programme, with Davie facing questions about it at a recent virtual meeting with staff. More than 100 BBC staff signed a letter criticising the decision to drop the film.
It ends a torrid week for the BBC, which has also been hit with the fallout from its failure to cut the live feed of Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance. Davie has come under significant pressure from ministers over the broadcast. During the live stream, Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, led chants of “death, death to the IDF”, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, at Glastonbury last Saturday.
While Davie has received a vote of confidence from the BBC board and its chair, Samir Shah, more junior figures appear to be expected to take the blame for the incident. There have been unconfirmed reports that Lorna Clarke, who oversees pop music commissioning at the BBC, has stood back from her duties.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We would urge people not to speculate, particularly in relation to any individuals.”
BBC insiders have pointed to editorial cuts as aggravating issues around the monitoring of live streams. One said many of the BBC staff who worked on Glastonbury were volunteers from other teams, especially on digital-only streams.
