BBC luvvies rally around Gary Lineker over peddling ‘child migrant’ lies…and he STILL won’t apologise
Colleagues said they were “proud” and had “respect” for the Beeb presenter - despite the fact he endorsed a false claim by a charity about a ‘child migrant’
BBC staff have rallied around under pressure Gary Lineker this morning - despite the presenter being accused of breaching Beeb guidelines on impartiality.
The Match of the Day host spread false claims about an Afghan at the centre of the child migrant storm.
Despite that his colleagues at the taxpayer-funded corporation today said they were ‘proud’ of Lineker.
Head of comedy at BBC studios, Chris Sussman, said: “I'm proud that @GaryLineker works at the BBC. Brilliant footballer, great presenter and clearly someone with a bit of compassion.”
Sussman was appointed to his top role in March this year.
BBC editorial guidelines warn that presenters’ “external activities” must not affect the public’s “perception” of its impartiality — or bring the broadcaster into “disrepute”.
It comes as Lineker still refuses to admit he was in the wrong over his retweet of a lie.
Charlie Slater – who describes himself as a ‘BBC weather presenter and sports journalist – also waded in with his views on the matter.
He replied to Lineker, 55, this morning, writing: “Respect you for standing up and saying something. More need to do the same.”
Owen Bradley – a reporter at BBC radio Derby – replied: “Amen to this.”
Stan Collymore let his followers know he was “#TeamLineker" - before quickly promoting the fact he would be working on BBC radio this weekend.
And luvvie Pete Sinclair – who has written for BBC political satire show Have I Got News For You – tweeted to his followers that he had “respect” for the former footballer after he retweeted the lie.
He wrote: “Respect and solidarity to @GaryLineker for having the decency to speak out in defence of refugees. He has every right to express his views.”
But millionaire Lineker - who earns £2million a year from the BBC - went on to retweet a charity’s lie that the oldest-looking asylum seeker pictured with new arrivals was a Home Office interpreter.
He stepped in after fostering charity TACT tweeted a Sun snap of the migrant, who claimed to be 18 when computerised facial analysis suggested he was 38.
The organisation said: “This is a picture of an adult interpreter working for @ukhomeoffice.”
Gary Lineker forwarded the message to his 5.3million followers with the words: “Wow! Surely not?” — sparking social media indignation.
But the Home Office yesterday confirmed the unidentified migrant was not their employee and instead among the group entering the UK claiming to be children
A BBC spokeswoman said yesterday: “Gary is a freelance broadcaster and this is a personal Twitter account.”
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