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Broadcaster says former England striker breached their social media guidelines Match of the Day will be broadcast on Saturday without presenters or pundits, the BBC announced, after Ian Wright and Alan Shearer withdrew from the show in "solidarity" with Gary Lineker, who was told to "back off" on his work. The presenter found himself embroiled in an impartiality dispute after comparing the language used to launch a new government asylum policy to Germany in the 1930s.
Ian Wright responded to the news on Twitter, saying: "Everyone knows what Match of the Day means to me but I told the BBC I won't do it tomorrow. Solidarity."
Alan Shearer said he will also not appear on the show on Saturday night, with Alex Scott, Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas also joining the list of pundits who have ruled out an appearance.
A BBC spokesman said on Friday night: "We understand your position and have decided that the show will focus on match action without an introduction or studio experience."
The dispute was sparked by his response on Twitter to a Home Office video in which Home Secretary Suella Braverman revealed plans to prevent people from crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Several Twitter users posted photos on social media to show they had waived monthly levies on their TV license fees in response to a day of controversy for the BBC over Gary Lineker.
Learning and disability support worker Simone Gordon told PA: "I have felt for some time that there is a bias towards government shown by the BBC in their news coverage."
“Gary Lineker's treatment this week confirmed what I feared. Fiona Bruce describing Stanley Johnson on question time last night beating his wife 'just once' seemed further evidence of this.
The BBC's decision not to broadcast the (Sir) David Attenborough episode in case it offended right-wing viewers was the last straw.
Angela Riley, a person in charge of pépinière en plein air d'Édimbourg, in Écosse, reported an article from the Guardian sur la controversia entourant la série documentary de Sir David sur Twitter, declaring : «C'est tout – la license TV mensuelle est annulée until new order.
"I can no longer continue to fund in good faith the slow but relentless attack on the integrity of the BBC by this (Conservative) government."
Here is Gary Lineker's latest online tweet, posted on Thursday afternoon just after 2pm, in simpler tense:
The BBC and the presenters planned to continue the day's match as usual until Friday lunchtime, before the announcer tried to convince Gary Lineker to accept a solution deemed unacceptable by the main presenter.
This left the company scrambling to find an alternative team until Friday night, after being turned down by a number of industry figures.
Our soccer editor, Miguel Delaney, has this report on how the day went:
The BBC's decision to remove Lineker from its flagship football highlights program sparked a boycott from pundits and left producers scrambling to keep the show alive, Miguel Delaney reports.
In another row for the BBC, the broadcaster defended Question Time's Fiona Bruce against accusations that she trivialized domestic violence during a discussion about Stanley Johnson.
The presenter weighed in when journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown described Boris Johnson's father as a "wife beater" on Thursday's episode.
Bruce said: "I don't dispute what you're saying, but just so everyone knows what this is referring to, Stanley Johnson's wife spoke to a reporter, Tom Bower, and said that Stanley Johnson had a broken nose and she ended up in hospital. as a result. Stanley Johnson has not publicly commented on this. His friends have said it happened, but it was unique.
After the show, public figures including Labor MP Kate Osborne and Women's Aid CEO Farah Nazeer accused her of downplaying the seriousness of domestic violence.
But in a statement on Friday, the BBC said: "Domestic violence is appalling, and we would never suggest otherwise. When serious on-air allegations are made against individuals or organisations, the onus falls on BBC presenters to ensure that the The context of these allegations, and any individual or organization's right of reply, is given to the public, and that is what Fiona Bruce was doing last night.
"She was not expressing any personal opinion on the situation."
It wasn't the first time Lineker had spoken out on Twitter about his political views, and history suggests it might not be the last.
Here my colleague Matt Mathers reflects on some of the most defining moments over the years:
The English soccer legend has expressed his political views on Twitter over the years.
Here's how reporters and commentators interpreted the day's match announcement:
In a controversial day for the BBC, the station has apologized for failing to properly examine claims made by former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries on Radio 4's World At One programme.
The BBC admitted there "should have been more challenges" when the Boris Johnson loyalist made allegations about Sue Gray, saying her reporting on the Partygate scandal had been discredited after he was told the leader was offered the chief of staff job. Labor Sir Keir. Starmer.
Ms Dorries claimed the senior official was a "personal friend of Keir Starmer, someone who had discussions over who knows what period of time... to take on the role of his chief of staff, with the main aim of removing the government conservative". ”.
The comments were not disputed, but Sir Keir clarified in an interview with LBC that Ms Gray was "not a friend" and "not in the same social circles" as him.
In a statement on Friday, the BBC said it had received complaints from listeners that Ms Dorries was allowed to make "inaccurate and biased" claims, and agreed in retrospect that "there should have been more allegations."
Hugh Bonneville and Jason Watkins jokingly reprized their roles on the BBC W1A sitcom to discuss who should host Match Of The Day, while poking fun at the company's decision to drop Gary Lineker from the show.
The series, which ran for three seasons from 2014 to 2017, saw Bonneville play the BBC's head of securities in a mockumentary about running the company alongside Watkins and Jessica Hynes.
Rephrasing himself as Ian Fletcher, Bonneville tweeted Watkins as Ian Fletcher, discussing his proposed Match Of The Day plans with Watkins' W1A side Simon Harwood, suggesting Lord Alan Sugar or former Prime Minister Boris Johnson could step in as experts. He left.
Former BBC correspondent Jon Sopel said it was "unbelievable" that Match of the Day took place without presenters or pundits.
Reacting to the announcement, the veteran journalist tweeted: "So the BBC started a war with no battle plan."
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