Gary Lineker to leave the BBC on Monday after 26 years, following an antisemitism controversy sparked by a shared social media post featuring a rat, coupled with his branding of Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks as “beyond depraved.”
Veteran BBC presenter and former England captain Gary Lineker is slated to depart the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday, effective immediately, following a significant antisemitism controversy, The Telegraph reported. The decision, described as a mutual agreement, will see Lineker leave the corporation early, with plans for him to front next year’s World Cup coverage now axed.
Sources close to the situation indicated that Lineker has acknowledged the untenable nature of his position at the BBC, and an official announcement is anticipated by midday among corporation insiders.
This follows intense fury from campaigners and Jewish BBC colleagues concerning a now-deleted Instagram post from the campaign group Palestine Lobby, which Lineker shared.
Lineker last week issued an “unreserved” apology for sharing the post which contained an image of a rat, stressing he had done so unknowingly. The image, which accompanied a video by Canadian-Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu attacking Israel’s war in Gaza, is a symbol used by the Nazis as a slur against Jewish people.
The controversy was compounded by Lineker’s remarks to The Telegraph, in which he branded Israel’s response to the October 7 terrorist attacks as “beyond depraved.” His final appearance as host of “Match of the Day,” a show he fronted for 26 years, is expected to be next Sunday.
A source with close understanding of Lineker’s situation initially told The Sun, “He offered to step down at the end of the season, and did not want the BBC – an organization he still holds in the highest of esteem – dragged into any further controversy. He remains absolutely devastated by the recent turn of events and is deeply regretful about how his post was interpreted.”
Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, welcomed Lineker’s departure. “Given the antisemitic nature of the content Mr. Lineker shared, it is right that he is leaving the BBC,” Cohen told The Telegraph. “But Mr. Lineker’s sharing of the post is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.”
Lineker was previously taken off air by bosses at the BBC in March of 2023 after comparing the launch of the Conservatives’ new policy to the rhetoric of Nazi-era Germany. He was back on the air a week later.
In 2024, Lineker came under fire from MPs and Jewish leaders after retweeting a call for Israel to be banned from international soccer games.
The BBC has long been criticized for its blatant anti-Israel bias. This criticism has increased since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the war in Gaza which followed.
In November of 2023, the corporation published an apology after falsely claiming that IDF troops were targeting medical teams in battles in and around the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Before that, the BBC falsely accused Israel of being responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza, which the IDF proved was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket. The network later acknowledged that “it was false to speculate” on the explosion.
In March, the British corporation issued an apology after using footage of the Israeli city of Tiberias – located well within Israel’s internationally recognized borders – while discussing “settlements” in the Golan Heights.
