LONDON (AP) — The BBC’s sports coverage was hit with a second day of severe disruptions Sunday as dozens of staff refused to work in solidarity with top soccer host Gary Lineker, who was suspended by the broadcaster after he tweeted criticism of the British government’s asylum policy.
The news corporation is reeling from huge fallout and questions over its impartiality after it suspended Lineker, one of English soccer’s most lauded players and the corporation’s highest-paid presenter, on Friday after he compared the Conservative government’s language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.
He was referring to the government’s plans to stop migrants from arriving in small boats on U.K. shores by introducing tough new laws that would detain asylum seekers, deport them and ban them from ever re-entering the U.K.
Immigration and “taking back control” of Britain’s borders has been a hot-button issue in the U.K. since voters backed Britain’s exit from the European Union. Like his predecessors in recent years, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the English Channel migrant crossings one of his top priorities. But his latest plans have drawn swift condemnation from the U.N.’s refugee agency and many rights groups, which call the policies unethical and unworkable.
Pressure is mounting on the BBC to resolve the crisis, with growing calls for its bosses to step down over allegations of political bias and suppressing free speech.
The controversy has impacted the BBC’s sports programs, with dozens of sports presenters and reporters walking out of their jobs Saturday and Sunday in support of Lineker.
A look at who Lineker is, the debate surrounding his comments and how it’s affected the BBC:
WHO IS LINEKER AND WHAT DID HE SAY?
Lineker, 62, is one of Britain’s most influential media figures and was paid 1.35 million pounds ($1.6 million) by the BBC last year.
One of England’s greatest strikers with 48 goals in 80 international appearances, he was a household name in Britain even before he became chief presenter of the soccer highlights show “Match of the Day” in 1999.
In a post Tuesday to his 8.7 million followers on Twitter, Lineker described the government’s new plan to detain and deport migrants arriving by boat as “an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.”
HOW DID THE BBC AND OTHERS REACT?
The BBC — which has…