Gary Lineker makes ‘fool’ admission in new BBC accusation after public spat
Gary Lineker may have resigned from the BBC in May 2025, but the ex-Match of the Day host still has plenty to say on what happened
England icon Gary Lineker opened up about his exit from the BBC(Image: © 2026 Bloomberg Finance LP)
Gary Lineker has hit out at the BBC for supposedly “moving the goalposts” about how he was allowed to support the causes he promoted. In May 2025, he stepped down as host of Match of the Day after being accused of reposting a social media upload featuring antisemitic iconography.
The video he shared from the group Palestine Lobby criticised the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza, but also included a cartoon of a rat, a symbol widely and historically deemed as antisemitic. Upon announcing his departure from the BBC, he issued an apology for the post, writing: “I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am. Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.”
On Tuesday (August 25), the 65-year-old The Rest Is Football star took to the stage at the Edinburgh TV Festival, where he looked back on his career, including his departure from the BBC, where he had hosted Match of the Day from 1999 until 2025.
Gary Lineker resigned from his position in May 2025(Image: Photo by NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP via Getty Images)
Adam Hawkins, the director of documentary series at Netflix and advisory chair for the festival, broached the subject of Lineker’s suspension and BBC exit, asking why he feels compelled to engage publicly with political matters. Lineker explained how he felt the impartiality goalposts at the BBC had “shifted” in his later years.
He said: “For the first few years of Twitter, I posted about whether it’s refugees or some kind of humanitarian issues around the world, and then I think it was around 2019, something like that, the BBC moves the goalposts, and they said, from now on, it applies to everyone.”
The former Barcelona striker then revealed to Hawkins that he recalled speaking to the corporation’s director-general, making it clear he had no intention of changing the way he conducted himself online. He said: “I still want to speak up if I want.
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“I said I’ll always be cautious, and it’ll be about humanitarian issues. if I wanted a quiet an easy life I could have just shut up, but I’m an idiot.”
He also added: “I don’t think it’s politics, really. I’m interested in politics, I’m not interested in being in politics. I don’t think I speak much about politics, although politics is involved in everything that I speak about. I think ultimately you need to live with yourself.
“If I see things that upset me in humanitarian terms, then I find it quite upsetting, and it triggers me to use a platform that I would never have had before. People can disagree and they do and that’s absolutely fine.”
Gary Lineker was expected to present the World Cup for the BBC but did not do so after resigning(Image: 2025 The FA)
The father-of-four highlighted the moment when then-director-general Tim Davie reformed the BBC’s impartiality guidelines back in October 2020.
In an update published by the broadcaster on its website, it declared: ‘The new social media guidance applies to everyone working at the BBC whether they are using social media professionally or personally, with clear steps to follow to maintain standards and integrity.
It added: ‘If your work requires you to maintain your impartiality, don’t express a personal opinion on matters of public policy, politics, or “controversial subjects”.’
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