Gary Lineker insists he was 'right' to compare Suella Braverman's migrant crackdown to Nazi Germany - and calls for BBC to reinstate Hamas-linked documentary
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Gary Lineker has insisted he was 'right' to criticise Suella Braverman and compare the then Conservative government's policy on asylum seekers arriving in small boats with 1930s Nazi Germany.
The 64-year-old has said his bosses at the BBC were 'silly' for taking him off air during yet another impartiality crisis of his own making, insisting it was a 'ridiculous overreaction'.
Doubling down on his views in a series of incendiary tweets from 2023 that led to his suspension, he told Amol Rajan: 'I don't regret saying them publicly, because I was right - what I said, it was accurate.
'Why shouldn't I have an opinion on things? I'm a b***dy footballer who's turned into a sports presenter', he added.
In an interview to be broadcast on BBC Two on Tuesday night, Mr Lineker launched a number of extraordinary attacks on the corporation, where he is the highest paid star taking home £1.35million-a-year.
He said he believes he was forced out of Match of the Day and accused the corporation of having 'capitulated' when it pulled a controversial documentary on Gaza from iPlayer after complaints it had links to Hamas.
He told Rajan he would '100 per cent' support its re-release, calling it 'incredibly moving'.
In March 2023 Lineker was suspended and taken off air when he shared a video of Mrs Braverman outlining the Illegal Migration Bill aimed at stopping the flow of people crossing the Channel by preventing them claiming asylum.
He called the Tory policy 'beyond awful', 'immeasurably cruel' and said it used language 'not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s' in posts to his 8.7million Twitter followers.
Lineker also denied there was a 'huge influx' of migrants into the UK.
His suspension sparked a walkout by Match of the Day co-stars including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer.
He said his BBC bosses should 'have ignored it, and it would have been fine', and called the corporation 'silly' for its 'overreaction' in taking him off air.
But he added: 'I wouldn't do it again because of all the kerfuffle that followed, and I love the BBC, and I didn't like the damage that it did to the BBC... But do I regret it and do I think it was the wrong thing to do? No'.
He went on: 'It was a ridiculous overreaction that was just a reply to someone that was being very rude. And I wasn't particularly rude back'.
Lineker said he 'wasn't that bothered' to be told via a news alert, and not the BBC, that he would not be allowed back on Match of the Day for a period.
He also said he 'cried' when fellow players-turned-pundits refused to go on air.
Asked about the rules, Lineker questioned why he had to be 'impartial', saying he was a 'freelancer', and the rules were for 'people in news and current affairs - they have subsequently changed'.
He added that this 'left me, who always gave these honest opinions about things', having to be impartial which, he said, 'didn't make any sense', and called it a freedom of speech issue.
'I think this is the mistake... the BBC tries to appease the people that hate the BBC, the people that always go on about the licence fee, attack the BBC. They worry way too much about that, rather than worry about the people that love the BBC, which is the vast majority,' he said.
Lineker ruled himself out of a career in politics, saying he has 'never had a view', before laughing.
'I think I'll probably focus more on the podcast world, because it's such a fun business and it's just been so incredible,' he added.
Earlier this year, Lineker condemned the withdrawal of the documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture.
He said the BBC had 'capitulated', adding that he does not see Abdullah as an issue, and maintaining that the corporation should not have admitted to 'a number of serious failings in their commissioning and editorial processes'.
Lineker said he would '100%' support the documentary being shown again.
'I think you let people make their own minds up. We're adults. We're allowed to see things like that. It's incredibly moving'.
He added: 'I think [the BBC] just capitulated to lobbying that they get a lot'.
The footballer turned broadcaster launched a number of attacks on the BBC in a wide-ranging interview with Rajan.
Lineker said he believes the corporation forced him out of Match of the Day after 26 years.
Mr Lineker apparently even offered to take a pay cut to stay on Match of the Day. But today he said he had 'a sense' he was being shown the door.
Amol Rajan asked him why he would leave the BBC's flagship football show after 26 years, having replaced former anchor Des Lynam in 1999.
'Well, perhaps they want me to leave. There was the sense of that', Lineker said, adding: 'I think it was their preference that I didn't do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people'.
Sky Sports' Kelly Cates and BBC regulars Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan will all share the role from August.
Mr Lineker is just weeks away from his final Match of the Day on a Saturday night.
He has told Mr Rajan that he will use his free weekends to travel more and concentrate on his podcast business, Goalhanger.
He will leave the BBC completely at the end of the 2026 World Cup.
It came amid reports that Lineker does not see eye-to-eye with the BBC's new director of sport, Alex Kay-Jelski
'I always wanted one more contract, and I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether to do three years [more],' Lineker said.
'In the end, I think there was a feeling that, because it was a new rights period, it was a chance to change the programme.
'I think it was their preference that I didn't do Match of the Day for one more year, so they could bring in new people. So it's slightly unusual that I would do the FA Cup and the World Cup, but to be honest, it's a scenario that suits me perfectly.'
The BBC declined to comment on his claims. A spokesman pointed to comments made previously when he was described as a 'world-class presenter'.
Mr Lineker held talks over his future last Autumn.
But the BBC did not offer him a contract that he wanted in a move that will save them a fortune.
The footballer turned pundit, 64, has been the regular host of the show since 1999 but he will end his 25-year stint on the Saturday night programme at the end of this season.
Lineker, a lightning rod for criticism over impartiality in recent years will leave the corporation altogether in two years' time after the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States, as first reported by MailOnline in October.
Former Director General Greg Dyke said that that Lineker's penchant for giving personal views will have been 'in the mind' of the BBC when they decided to go for the team of new hosts.
'In the end, people watch Match Of The Day for the football', he said.
A BBC source insisted that Mr Lineker is 'happy' and 'everyone is pleased' that he will leave MotD in May and the BBC two years later.
But added that is an open secret that Mr Kay-Jelski is 'not exactly close' with the former England striker and is keen to slash spending and give the show a facelift without him.
Lineker has branched out in recent years by co-founding the production company Goalhanger.
The company produces his podcast The Rest is Football, with other titles including The Rest is History and The Rest is Entertainment.
