Tradition and Media Editor
PA MediaGary Lineker is about to depart the BBC with an announcement anticipated on Monday.
Hypothesis is mounting the 64-year-old will step down after he presents his closing Match of the Day subsequent weekend.
Lineker, listed because the highest-paid BBC presenter, had been as a result of stay on the forefront of the BBC’s protection of subsequent season’s FA Cup and the World Cup in 2026, regardless of beforehand asserting he’ll go away Match of the Day on the finish of this season.
However final week he needed to apologise after sharing a social media submit about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, traditionally used as an antisemitic insult.
Lineker mentioned he very a lot regretted the references, including he would by no means knowingly share something antisemitic and that he had deleted the submit as soon as he had realized concerning the symbolism of the picture.
Final week, BBC Director Normal Tim Davie mentioned: “The BBC’s popularity is held by everybody, and when somebody makes a mistake, it prices us.”
It’s understood that BBC bosses thought-about Lineker’s place untenable.
The previous England striker has attracted criticism earlier than for his posts on social media up to now.
He was quickly suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over a submit wherein he mentioned language used to advertise a authorities asylum coverage was “not dissimilar to that utilized by Germany within the 30s”.
The BBC’s social media guidelines have been then rewritten to say presenters of flagship programmes exterior information and present affairs – together with Match of the Day – have “a selected accountability to respect the BBC’s impartiality, due to their profile on the BBC”.
In November 2024, Lineker introduced his departure from Match of the Day, however mentioned he would stay with the BBC to entrance FA Cup and World Cup protection.
In an interview earlier this yr about leaving, Lineker mentioned he believed the BBC wished him to depart Match of the Day as he was negotiating a brand new contract final yr, saying: “Properly, maybe they need me to depart. There was the sense of that.”
The BBC did not touch upon Lineker’s suggestion on the time however referred to as him a “world-class presenter” and added that Match of the Day “frequently evolves for altering viewing habits”.
Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan have been introduced as new presenters of the present for the beginning of the 2025-26 season.
Lineker has not publicly commented on his departure from the BBC.
In his interview final month, Lineker additionally mirrored on his 2023 tweets, saying that he didn’t remorse the feedback and including “would I, in hindsight, do it once more? No I would not, due to all of the nonsense that got here with it.”
Chatting with the BBC’s Amol Rajan, he indicated his subsequent profession transfer “will not be extra telly”, including: “I feel I will step again from that now” and .I feel I will most likely focus extra on the podcast world”.
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