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Daily Record
Daily Record
Entertainment
Tasha Hall

ITV's Lorraine Kelly's dig at BBC over Gary Lineker row demanding bosses 'sit down and sort rules out'

Lorraine Kelly appeared to weigh in on the ongoing row surrounding BBC Match of the Day host Gary Lineker as she had a pop at the broadcasting channel on her show on Monday morning.

The Scots presenter had agreed with ITV news editor Paul Brand when she said bosses are "inconsistent" during his guest appearance on her show this morning as she slammed bosses for "badly handling" the situation.

Lorraine, 63, was confident that his return was "imminent" following the outroar when he was sacked following his tweets about the UK asylum policy which sparked debate across the industry on people having free speech.

"I think they have to sit down and sort out the rules," Lorraine said as she agreed with Paul on the "mayhem" the situation has caused and suggested in future he should ensure he has a statement to say his views are his own across his social media.

Lorraine said it was almost a "get out of jail free card" by doing this, but slammed BBC bosses who need to "sort it out" as she said Match of the Day was just "weird" on Saturday night as she pointed out we didn't get the usual sports round up at 5.30pm.

Gary Lineker did not want to answer questions outside of his home as he was announced to return to his BBC role over the backlash (Getty Images)

Lorraine continued to blast the BBC as she said their current schedule was "just odd" without Gary Lineker facing the programme and added that bosses need to agree what their rules and regulations will be moving forward.

She even had a jibe before moving onto the remaining part of her show as she alluded to the fact that "clearly" things aren't in place properly at the broadcasting station.

"For goodness sake, all of this could have been sorted out long ago," Lorraine added as she said that people could "see it coming a mile off" due to the tight-knit community they have at the BBC sports department.

The pair went on to point out the likes of BBC Apprentice frontman Lord Sugar and Mary Berry have also had controversial political views in the past which they have expressed quite openly and not been crucified for in the same manner.

"Lord Sugar for goodness sake, he is as well as told everyone to vote Tory," Lorraine snapped.

ITV's Paul made a good point of "where the BBC draw the line" as he compared the situation to comedians on comic relief and questioned if we start vetting them for everyone that has criticized the government in the past.

"They'll be no comedians on it [The BBC]," laughed Lorraine "They've brought a load of dreadful things on their own heads."

Lorraine added: "They all need to go on a management course, for goodness sake the BBC is full of that and spend half their time doing that but it clearly doesn't work."

It has now been confirmed on Monday shortly after Lorraine presented her show that Gary Lineker will continue as a BBC presenter after the corporation apologised for “potential confusion caused by the grey areas” of its social media guidelines.

A host of sports presenters and pundits pulled out of BBC shows at the weekend after the former England striker was told to step back from hosting the show in a row over impartiality.

BBC Director-General Tim Davie has apologised after Gary Lineker was told to step back from presenting Match Of The Day and said he will return to hosting coverage this weekend.

Gary Lineker has said he is “glad that we have found a way forward” over his return to presenting BBC football coverage, adding: “(I) look forward to getting back on air.”

Gary Lineker “will abide by the editorial guidelines” until a review of the BBC’s social media policy is complete, director-general Tim Davie said.

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