Gary Lineker row hits BBC’s Match of the Day 2 and WSL coverage

Disruption to sports programming continues into second day as pressure grows on BBC chairman Richard Sharp * Lineker row live – latest news updates The BBC has been forced to scale back a second day of sports programming amid a deepening row over the suspension of Gary Lineker. The corporation will air a shortened version of Match of the Day 2 without presenters or pundits after a mass walkout by BBC stars in support of Lineker. The BBC chair, Richard Sharp, was facing growing calls to stand down over his ties to the Conservative party, as Labour and the Liberal Democrats said he was unfit to oversee the broadcaster during an impartiality crisis. Lineker’s son, George, said his father would not apologise for his tweet comparing the language used to set out the government’s immigration plans to “that used by Germany in the 30s”. He suggested his father could leave the BBC at the end of his contract in 2025. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the “whirling chaos” was increasing concern among BBC staff and inflicting “profound damage” on the broadcaster. Mark Thompson, the former BBC director general, said Lineker appeared to have committed a “technical” breach of impartiality rules, but that the tweets fell into a “grey area” and had “kidnapped” the debate away from immigration policy. Continue reading...

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