Simon Jordan has blasted the BBC for their ‘disastrously poor’ handling of the Gary Lineker Twitter row and believes they must now fix their guidelines.
Lineker was made to step back from his hosting role on Friday, after the BBC decided his social media post comparing the language used in the Government’s migration plans to that used in Germany in the 1930s had breached impartiality rules.
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His removal from the show saw a flurry of presenters, pundits and commentators announce their refusal to work on BBC ‘s football coverage over the weekend in support of their colleague.
However, on Monday BBC bosses backed down from their stance, with director general Tim Davie apologising to the former England captain and asking him to return to front BBC’s FA Cup coverage this weekend.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Sportsmail’s Jordan bemoaned the handling of the situation when asked if he thought the BBC should apologise to Lineker.
Simon Jordan has slammed the BBC for their handling of the Gary Lineker Twitter row
Lineker was asked on Monday to come back to host Match of the Day by the BBC
‘For what? For saying to him we don’t find that particularly acceptable and we need to redefine the guidelines,’ said Jordan.
‘What they did was handle it in a disastrously poor way, they didn’t communicate it properly, it looks like it’s been handed down from the Tories – and it may well have been.
‘It may well have been a directive from the Tory government, saying “we don’t like this”, and clearly some people think it is. I don’t care if that’s the case, but what do need to have is a BBC that operates with clear guidelines.’
Jordan has spoken out on the Lineker situation on a number of occasions during the controversy, accusing those standing in solidarity with Lineker of being ‘virtue signalling nitwits’ and warning the former England captain he must be ‘prepared to fall on his sword’.
Jordan, who was appointed as the Mail’s new weekly columnist last month, with his column published every Thursday, also told the Match of the Day presenter he must be willing to face the consequences following the post, and even called for his striking colleagues to be sacked.
He continued along the same lines during today’s discussion, believing that Lineker should also not apologise for putting out his views in the tweet.
Jordan added: ‘If you said it and you meant it, you can’t apologise for it. He should never of apologised for it or retracted it. Because otherwise what did he say it for.
BBC director general Tim Davie backed down from the row and asked Lineker to return to TV
Lineker announces his return to Match of the Day in a defiant series of tweets on Monday
‘If Lineker meant it, which clearly he does, and for whatever reason he wanted to put it up on social media and lose some of the 9million followers that have in part be accumulated from being on the BBC. To make that message heard, he has to stand by it, he can’t apologise.’
Lineker ironically went back to Twitter to announce that he’ll back on the BBC this weekend, in a series of posts addressing the weekend’s events.
He began a four-post thread by saying: ‘After a surreal few days, I’m delighted that we have navigated a way through this.
‘I want to thank you all for the incredible support, particularly my colleagues at BBC Sport, for the remarkable show of solidarity. Football is a team game but their backing was overwhelming.’