Gary Lineker has been mocked over a new BBC row after he claimed he helped create the broadcaster’s new guidelines on social media.
Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event, Mr Lineker denied posts published last year had broken regulations.
He said: “I know the guidelines really well. I was partly involved in drawing them up, in terms of having an interview with John. I don’t think I’m constrained.
“I think I tweet now like I’ve always tweeted. I know the guidelines inside out. Obviously, the new guidelines allow much more freedom. We’re allowed opinions.”
Following his comments, Mr Lineker has been mocked on TalkTV by both presenters and guests.
TalkTV guest Reem Ibrahim, from the Institute of Economic Affairs, agreed with presenter Kevin O’Sullivan that they believed Mr Lineker could be an egotist.
Mr O’Sullivan said: “He helped write some rules which arguably he is still breaking on a regular basis. This guy’s something of an egotist isn’t he?”
To this Ms Ibrahim replied: “I think that’s the perfect word to describe him, he’s absolutely an egotist and he clearly doesn’t want to stay out of news headlines.
“There aren’t any new allegations of him breaking social media guidelines, he’s consistently done so over the last few years. Obviously, there is the question about whether or not as a sports presenter he should be allowed to express his political views and he’s now claiming that he wrote the rules that he now consistently breaks.”
In response, Mr O’Sullivan claimed: “People get addicted to being in the papers, get addicted to being talked about, Gary Lineker is a prime example of that.”
This isn’t the first time Mr Lineker and his posts on X have been discussed in great detail. On how he used the platform, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Lineker said: “It’s a very useful platform for me.
“And it’s great, and the BBC love me [being] on there because I promote their shows. We’ve been given a lot more leeway now, which is a good thing. I’m always sensible.”
While Mr Lineker has discussed the freedom he now has, some of his tweets have caused controversy, including recently when he posted about the Israel-Hamas war.
While a retweet on the war was removed from his account, it received a wave of backlash.
Speaking to the Telegraph about the incident, a spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Gary Lineker has a lot to say about a lot of things, but antisemitism does not appear to be one of them.
“At a time of record levels of racism against Jews, not a peep. But he has found the time to amplify a call to suspend the world’s only Jewish state from international sports. His priorities are clear.”
Mr Lineker later claimed he misinterpreted the retweet after removing it from his account.
