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

[mids2019]

Maybe Gary Lineker's departure acts as a warning for this not acquainted with history to go around randomly reposting pro Palestinian links though I suspect he is not the only one. In a way it is a sad demise to a career but an absolutely necessary one and a timely warning that a proportion of P Palestinian supporters are anti semites.

for to say I didn't like the Gaurdian 's take that the BBC were looking to sack Gary anyway and he just have them an excuse.

@ExpressCheckoutcan you reply to my question please

Lineker was a brilliant striker who turned scoring goals into a science (yes, I’m actually old enough to remember) who overcame a lack of formal education to become an outstanding live broadcaster.

He was very naive & poorly advised to publicly comment on Israel / Palestine while working for the BBC, though. Particularly when his understanding of the historical contexts of the conflict is so obviously superficial & simplistic. And that naivety bit him on the arse when he apparently inadvertently used a blatantly antisemitic trope. He has only himself to blame.

Ok??

That's not what I asked.
I asked do you think the same judgemental words should be used for those on the other side of the viewpoint or it is just those who object to the current situation.

You were quite vehement in your previous post with your condemnation so I was just asking.

Well yes obviously most people would have liked to see the ceasefire hold and the hostages released. Of course it would have been a good way to move forward. Israel decided against that and instead they are 'dismantling Gaza, leaving it in ruins with unprecedented destruction, and the world still hasn’t stopped us.' and 'the army is leaving no stone unturned. We are conquering, cleansing and staying in Gaza.' to quote their democratically elected minister.

I'd rather people spoke out about a government that is being open with their plans to 'cleanse' Gaza and apologise if they make a mistake rather than stay quiet or even worse support this. Like this democratically elected minister has said 'the world still hasn't stopped us', they are taking silence as permission.

Louis Theroux is probably a marked man now. Tik tok ...

Interesting he has stayed out of the pile on.

Dreadful man, shame on him

Yes, i can't see why not. If I have a general point it would be that celebrities who attach themselves to painful or controversial conflicts may do so for the 'wrong' reasons - whatever 'side'. And I'd condemn them, too. But this thread is about Lineker.

I will stop addressing posts to you when you say who you are, disgustingly, describing as Hamas apologists.

Fair enough thank you for answering.

I don't agree with you and feel that anyone can /choose not to use their platform to talk about issues they feel strongly about but I respect your view too.

Yes. Football, as an industry (which includes it's customers) can be quite blind when it comes to human rights and the death or even execution of people. For instance, ownership of UK clubs by Saudi Arabia (not known for its sparkling human rights record) and the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of migrant workers who died for a couple of weeks of football in Qatar. Fans choosing to associate themselves with these owners and these events plainly do not care about the death toll, else they would not watch or engage. You may not agree, but that's my view.

I liked him. I thought he was an inspiration to MPs today with his fulsome and genuine apology. That is how it’s done, not bullshitting.
Reform etc will be crowing, though.

Sometimes when I'm feeling down my mind wanders to the sight of Gary Lineker in his shorts, popping the goals in in Mexico '86!

He didn't just object to the current situation though. That's the whole reason for this debate

@CrocsNotDocs I think the Supreme Court had a view on that too! At least it was a football comment.

Thanks. There’s been plenty of protests by football fans against Saudi ownership of clubs but much like the protests against the treatment of the Palestinian people by Israel it has fallen on deaf ears unfortunately.

Don’t be showing me England goals @sualipa 🇮🇪

Gary Linekar spoke for thousands who are being killed in a genocide whilst the powers to be stay silent.
Their land stolen their familes butchered in their thousands.
Starved to death whilst the world ignores.
The IDF are right now carrying out the worst atrocities yet everyone ignores.
Hamas are terrorists but they don't represent the people of palestine. The IDF do represnt Israel and are butchers and slaughters of innocent men women and children.
We need more GL's to speak out.
He is not an antisemitic.

May there be peace. May they have comfort from this god awful suffering.

I don’t think this so the argument specifically. It was using the rat trope that put this into the no go area and makes him anti semitic.

Did he know - yea he publicly told us all to ‘know our history’ of WW2 and holocaust.

Acknowledging what is happening in Gaza can exist with him also posting a rat as an ‘emoji’ on his instagram account and making him anti semitic.

And that is why he was fired. His views are his own and fine but his antisemitism is what isn’t okay.

GL had promised his employers he would not do this. He’s always posting his views, upsetting people, then having to apologise. His employers have rules and this was a step too far. He can do what he wants as a self employed individual. As can anyone else. If your employer is trying to stay impartial, as it must because the BBC is attacked if it doesn’t, they don’t want employees doing this. So he had to go.

He’s got a successful podcast company and may well hoover up work with other broadcasters if they don’t mind him expressing views. They too might prefer he sticks to football.

You'd think his experience with Brass Eye would have taught him to research whatever he is mindlessly endorsing.

People are not disagreeing with him posting about what is happening in Gaza, it was his use of an antisemitic trope with it.

Why don’t people slate the USA - Israel is like the 51st state. If the US stepped away the Israeli army and arms would collapse.