Gary Lineker has been slammed for defending Danny Baker over his 'racist' royal baby tweet.
Baker was axed by the BBC from his Radio 5 Live role after tweeting a picture of a chimpanzee dressed in clothes with the caption "Royal baby leaves hospital" earlier this year.
Speaking on today's This Morning, Gary revealed he set up a podcast with Baker because he is "funny on Twitter ".
This enraged This Morning viewers, who pointed out that Baker's tweet about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's son Archie got him sacked by the BBC.
The Match of the Day host and England legend claimed his pal made a "big mistake" but was "not a racist".
Gary, 48, said: "He cocked up, he made a big mistake. It was genuinely just a mistake. I know Danny very well. He’s not a racist at all."
This Morning viewers took to Twitter to blast Gary for saying his pal was 'funny' on Twitter.
One outraged viewer said: "Gary Lineker the biggest virtue-signalling lefty on Twitter (and I like the bloke) just said 'Danny Baker is funny on Twitter' (I also like Danny). Just amusing out how people pick and choose their outrage isn't it?"
Another asked: ""Danny Baker's funny on twitter". How did that work out for him?"
A third said: "“He’s funny on Twitter” That’s awkward"
Gary also discussed dabbling in politics on Twitter - something he has been criticised for - with some insisting he should 'stick to football'.
"I'm a fool," joked Gary when asked why he tweets about political issues.
"It started a few years ago with FIFA. I hated all the corruption. I went against [Sepp] Blatter early. I was right on that.
"I've voiced my concerns on Brexit and the division in the country. It's probably because I had a platform called social media. I’d only ever talked about football.
"I don't mind if people disagree. I’ve got mates who are Brexiterees. We don’t fall out about it."
Baker's tweet, which was immediately removed from his account, received a large backlash due to Meghan's heritage.
Apologising to his followers at the time, he said: "Sorry my gag pic of the little fella in the posh outfit has whipped some up.
"Never occurred to me because, well, mind not diseased."
*This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10.30am
