Gary Lineker - he really had to go and a warning t against virtue signalling

You admire him for publicly and openly showing his feelings about Jewish people, in portraying them as rats/vermin?

He was obviously emboldened to share that post due to the global revival of antisemitism that Hamas deliberately orchestrated. He knows many agree with him and undoubtedly knew that he’d have to resign but though sharing Jew hate was worth it.

He will pop up on Al Jazeera shortly. Probably already agreed before and was the reason for that post. He will be quite at home there.

Disgusting little man.

I'm pretty sure he'd want sympathy for losing his job
like this. And for people to agree he was right to use his platform in the way he has. But it's not a universal 'given'. Many people feel he should have stayed impartial while working for the BBC

Being anti Semitic is, unfortunately , very important to many.
A pastime millennia long with many shades from near opaque to transparent.
And unlike the tricks that magicians play that are based in secrecy, unlike the magician, the "virtuous" anti Semite always gets caught out by stepping into transparency.
But Our Gary will be alright. He has millions and millions of fellow travellers, most not as shy as him, in public.

Now it's they who he has to keep on board.

And there is not much room for nuance, compromise, wrongspeak, from that chamber.

He's really under manners now unless he becomes Corbynian in privileged impotent White man contraryism . Just like those always at least a generation and a half older comb over having, afghan wearing, spliff holding Gurus
surrounded ny naive and nubile hippies that the 60s churned out.

Hanging onto his every word, seeking approval, setting goal post changing purity tests.

Good for him.

Pretty sure he wasn’t looking for sympathy-either yours or anyone else’s. There is no suggestion in anything I have heard or read that he regrets anything he has said or done except the emoji. He’s obviously well cushioned financially, but I admire him for taking stands on the issues that matter to him.

Do you think he was asking for sympathy?

I have no sympathy for GL - paid all that money to do a dream job at the BBC and all he had to do was respect its need to be impartial and stay off SM.
It's not a human right to be able to give one's opinion on all topics at all times - plenty of people who work for 'responsible' organisations, have to be sensitive to our employer and role, when posting on SM. It's not a huge ask when you consider what he was being paid to be a face of the BBC.

Other things are more important but the BBC as an organisation tries to appear neutral. He can speak out all he wants now he is not being paid by the BBC.

He didn’t think he was “above this”. He thought other things are more important.

They do keep up but it can't be easy. Too many personal attacks flying around when people should keep things civil.

Seems to me they manage to keep up just fine. I’ll save my sympathy for the Palestinian people.

He worked for the BBC which is supposed to be neutral but GL with his grandiose superiority thought he was above this.

And equally the way people get attacked on here for defending Israel or even just saying they understand why they felt the need to retaliate.

If I were famous I would keep my political views to myself. The level of hatred on here for anyone with a different view has been eye opening. It must be full time job for Mumsnet moderators keeping up with all the deletions they have to do on posts on this board.

@Sleeplessinmetalyou see the way anonymous posters on here get attacked for criticising Israel. Imagine what would happen to someone famous.

Late! Many predicted the genocide intention months ago - and then said nothing for fear they would be labelled anti-semitic. Call it what you like - the virtue signaling seems to be so important to many but the lost lives is what’s important. Removing Gaza of Palestinians is a revolting concept - it should feel that way to everyone - yet it is being defended - why?

Some more vacuous virtue signalling by people hoping to improve their social status and ability to get laid and reproduce….

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/28/gaza-letter-genocide-zadie-smith-ian

However much some may perceive a selfish reason for their signing the letter, it normalises the ability to openly discuss concerns about genocide of Palestinians without fear of being labelled antisemitic.

It adds to the momentum of change that feels almost palpable, from what is coming from the mouths of EU politicians and Trump’s SM.

It is late - but it’s still worthwhile as Netanyahu’s government cannot be allowed to continue on its present course.

Everything's made up - our language , our countries , our religions - we as a species are unique in all the things we have made up and take to be truth. When in truth they have all be made up. And I just made that up !

‘Virtue signalling’ is a bit like a new and improved ‘Jumped on the band wagon’

No he's not. As discussed below, he also said that he doesn't think males in women's sports is really a problem. That indicates he hasn't thought about it. He's just saying what he thinks is the woke things to say.

And yes, it's possible for a virtue-signaller to tweet/say something that's not offensive. The point is their general approach doesn't guard against it, because they don't actually care about being a bice or good person, just about appearing to be.

So if he hadn’t shared the emoji he wouldn’t have been “virtue signalling”? That makes no sense. Lineker had used his platform to speak out on many issues, and I understand that he has put his money where his mouth is several times as well. He appears to be a thoughtful and intelligent man who has no need to seek self aggrandisement. I can only think that people don’t like what he says-so they attack the player not the ball.

@EasyTouch 99% of genetic material of humans is the same. If anyone dug any of us up in 1000 years they could not tell for certain what race they were (not to mention that race could fall under different lines then) . They might make an educated guess towards skin colour , genetic traits ect.. but we are very blended so there aren’t sharp lines dividing us and they couldn’t say for sure. Race is a social idea it doesn’t have a basis in science. Usually people say there is a scientific reason for race to justify inequality.

Scientifically we are actually all the same. It’s a social idea to break us up into different groups.

And “virtue signalling” is such a dismissive, minimising way to describe person’s actions.

Only if it's inaccurately applied. And I do think actual virtue-signalling, which does exist, is a bad thing that should be called out. It's about showing what a good person you are and often that actively means people think that's all they need to do, so it works against actual helpful behaviour. Plus as GL has shown, because virtue-signalling is empty and selfish, it's often done without understanding or thinking through what the actual issue is, understanding context, etc. So actually GL has ended up sharing a very nasty antisemitic trope to all his followers when all he was trying to do was hop on a woke bandwagon for his own glory. That's why it's a problem and different from making an actual contribution - whether to a debate or in practical terms.

Well, I certainly feel better about myself if I speak out about bad things happening to other people. Better if I can do something practical, of course-but I do consider adding my voice important. And “virtue signalling” is such a dismissive, minimising way to describe person’s actions. Even if “all” they are doing is adding to awareness.

Agree. I don't think it's helpful to remember that we are just animals tho, super intelligent and super aggressive ones. It explains a lot of human behavior although obviously I don't believe it excuses it.

Yes, anything horrific you can think of, a human has probably done it. But we also have societal functions that identify some things as unacceptable or horrifying etc - my point is we shouldn't use animals to justify human behaviour or base expectations on. There can be interesting comparisons and evolutionary advantages to some behaviours that can be understood that way, but that's not the same as saying "well our ape relatives do this so it's natural" and then "and natural = OK"