Will Gary Lineker be presenting Motd on Saturday?

[MickiQ]

DG is toast. Probably the Chairman too.

I'll put down a timeframe. DG to go on Monday. His credibility and authority are completely gone.

I'd agree with this. Lineker won't back down why should he? Even the people who disagree with what he said are defending his right to say it. The public care more about seeing MoTD back on the telly more than they care about whether the boats are stopped or not. I can see the DG falling on his sword and his successor lifting the suspension and brushing it all under the carpet.

 

[Pickman's model]

Doubt they'll sack him, they've already shipped too much flak. More likely is 'talks' and then he decides to walk.

Or they hand him a vast wad of money

 

[ruffneck23]

 

[Raheem]

My impression is that they've belatedly taken legal advice and been told they can't sack him and they can't make him apologise. The best they can do, it seems, is pay him to do nothing for two and a bit years.

BBC fears it cannot sack Lineker or force him to follow social media rules

Exclusive: Presenter is on a two-year contract negotiated before current director general was appointed

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Wilf]

Or they hand him a vast wad of money

Oh yes, I don't think he'll end up selling crisps on the market after this (seem to remember he used to work on markets for his family's fruit and veg stall/business). Anyone's guess whether he or the BBC chair last longest.

 

[danny la rouge]

The BBC has some very specific impartiality guidelines, but they vary according to the status of the talent/employee.

And, it would appear, according to the whim of the the Government.

This seems pretty clear. Lord Camomile posted it upthread:



It literally gives as an example of something that would be OK a sports presenter giving policies opinions. I imagine Lineker knew that all along.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

My impression is that they've belatedly taken legal advice and been told they can't sack him and they can't make him apologise. The best they can do, it seems, is pay him to do nothing for two and a bit years.

Ah, gardening leave. Well this is football after all.

 

[bimble]

you don’t think they’ll just back down and say oops misunderstanding / we made a mistake?

 

[ddraig]

you don’t think they’ll just back down and say oops misunderstanding / we made a mistake?

nah
e2a they may well backtrack etc but don't think they'll apologise

 

[PursuedByBears]

you don’t think they’ll just back down and say oops misunderstanding / we made a mistake?

I don't think anyone backs down quietly these days do they? Unapologetic outrage is more the thing.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

This seems pretty clear. Lord Camomile posted it upthread:



It literally gives as an example of something that would be OK a sports presenter giving policies opinions. I imagine Lineker knew that all along.

They do give themselves some wiggle room regarding 'controversial' topics. But who decides what is controversial?

I think, in effect, what it means is that you have broken the rules if something you say subsequently becomes controversial. It's a cowardly charter written and administered by cowards.

It's not the first time, either. They got themselves in a total mess in 2019 for rebuking a news reporter who called out Trump's racism. They really are cowardly cowardy cowards. Moral pygmies.

presenter Munchetty was found by the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to have breached the corporation's guidelines by criticising US President Donald Trump's motives after he said four female politicians should "go back" to "places from which they came".
The corporation said its editorial guidelines "do not allow for journalists to... give their opinions about the individual making the remarks or their motives for doing so - in this case President Trump".
She was not found in breach for "calling out racist comments, which is perfectly acceptable where things are clearly framed in racist language", the BBC's head of editorial standards has said.

Naga Munchetty: BBC not impartial on racism, senior bosses say

 

[zahir]

Firing him would give him a good chance of ending up with martyr status. It could be the stupidest thing they do. Which is why it is quite likely.

I've no idea how his contract works but would firing him open up the BBC to a legal case and potentially having to pay an embarrassingly large amount to settle it ?

 

[existentialist]

I've no idea how his contract works but would firing him open up the BBC to a legal case and potentially having to pay an embarrassingly large amount to settle it ?

I guess that's always a (happy) possibility...

 

[neonwilderness]

My impression is that they've belatedly taken legal advice and been told they can't sack him and they can't make him apologise. The best they can do, it seems, is pay him to do nothing for two and a bit years.

BBC fears it cannot sack Lineker or force him to follow social media rules

Exclusive: Presenter is on a two-year contract negotiated before current director general was appointed

www.independent.co.uk

(((Sasaferrato’s license fee)))

 

[bimble]

I don't think anyone backs down quietly these days do they? Unapologetic outrage is more the thing.

That’s true. Nobody has made a mistake or got something wrong for at least a decade, not in public anyway.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I've no idea how his contract works but would firing him open up the BBC to a legal case and potentially having to pay an embarrassingly large amount to settle it ?

And he gives the whole lot to a refugee charity.

 

[existentialist]

They do give themselves some wiggle room regarding 'controversial' topics. But who decides what is controversial?

That could be one of the positive outcomes from this: the question has to arise regarding what is permissible to oppose, and what isn't. And Lineker's comment, a comparatively bland observation on the similarities of the government's language with that of Germany in the 1930s doesn't seem to me to me inherently controversial. But the government doesn't want any kind of dissenting voice, especially not a very popular voice, getting any traction.

This is actually a pretty lousy test case, as it's patently obvious that the government outrage at what he wrote is totally manufactured.

 

[existentialist]

you don’t think they’ll just back down and say oops misunderstanding / we made a mistake?

It's gone too far for that.

 

[nogojones]

This is the most interested in football I think I have ever been.

I've long enjoyed the football. I was drawn to it first by the Wagatha Christie thing

 

[friedaweed]

And he gives the whole lot to a refugee charity.

(((Sasaferrato’s license fee)))

Win win.

 

[Raheem]

you don’t think they’ll just back down and say oops misunderstanding / we made a mistake?

I don't know what they'll do, but I think they're more worried than anything about letting the Conservative party down.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Let's not forget as well that this is the same BBC that, in the last general election, instructed its newsreaders to call Jeremy Corbyn a 'hard left' or 'extreme left' candidate. Not as their opinion, but as BBC-approved fact.

 

[mauvais]

I give the DG a 60-70% chance of surviving. The chairman, bets are off, because he was already in trouble. He's not actually anything to do with this though, the big impartiality push is all Davie.

 

[ruffneck23]

I wonder if the England rugby side today lost in solidarity.

 

[Raheem]

Anyway, Tim Davie has insisted there's no question of him resigning, so that gives a clue as to what will probably happen next.

 

[Wilf]

I've long enjoyed the football. I was drawn to it first by the Wagatha Christie thing

Ah, the Wagatha thing, a happy time for football, innocent halcyon days.

 

[Petcha]

Gary Lineker doesn't technically work for the BBC (afaik) so this is a little hazy. He's a freelancer.

So not sure how they actually sack him.

 

[Wilf]

I give the DG a 60-70% chance of surviving. The chairman, bets are off, because he was already in trouble. He's not actually anything to do with this though, the big impartiality push is all Davie.

The only way Davie stays if Lineker grovels, apologises etc. Which ain't going to happen. So, the only way they get off the hook is if he walks in the very near future and he's surely astute enough to know that would be giving them an undeserved win. I just hope he returns to the Beeb ASAP and gets straight back into the subtle barbs that he does quite well (and then walks away in 12 months, donating the pay off money to refugees as mentioned by lbj).

 

[Wilf]

Gary Lineker doesn't technically work for the BBC (afaik) so this is a little hazy. He's a freelancer.

So not sure how they actually sack him.

He does have a contract though, afaik.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Ah, the Wagatha thing, a happy time for football, innocent halcyon days.

Cashmere Dior sweatshirts for goalposts