Piers Morgan has defended Gary Lineker’s complaint about the UK government’s new asylum policy, arguing that the Match Of The Day presenter is “not a journalist”.
The Talk TV presenter said Lineker’s comments were “clearly incendiary” but that his perspectives “should be important for BBC news”.
Lineker, 62, has come under fire from members of the Conservative Party, Downing Street and the Home Office, after comparing the language used to spread politics to 1930s Germany.
A BBC source also told news firm PA that the company takes the matter “seriously” and hopes to have a “frank conversation” with the former England striker.
Morgan and Lineker have been known to clash online several times before for problems.
But in a Talk TV monologue aired Wednesday, Morgan said he had “no problem” with Lineker expressing his reviews online.
“Gary got a little carried away, as he has a tendency to do. We communicate about it regularly, that’s what he does and he would say the same about me,” he said.
“Either we have strong opinions, or what we say and make them explicit forcefully, but we agree to disagree.
“And I have nothing with Gary Lineker, a football host, a sports anchor, giving his point of view.
“He’s not a BBC journalist, he doesn’t host The News at 10 or Question Time or Newsnight, he’s a football presenter who does Match Of The Day and other major sporting events.
“He’s a celebrity and a public figure, his 8 and half a million fans to know what he thinks of things.
“Why do we pretend that other people like him exist in a closed BBC bubble of the best convenience, when there is no opinion?
“Who cares what Gary Lineker says about government policy on things?In the end, he’s just a football host, and I don’t need to say that to denigrate him, he’s very smart at it. But he is not a news anchor.
“So what he thinks about the immigrant scenario is important to BBC news. “
Morgan went on to say that if Lineker had made her comments at the Match Of The Day presentation, the allegation would have been “justified. “
He said he liked Lineker to voice his views on alleged human rights abuses in Qatar while covering last year’s World Cup because he had “mixed football and politics. “
“If you don’t see it for opinions, that’s your right. But I don’t think I can be a loose-speech activist like me and just turn off the tap, because I don’t like the opinion I hear,” he said. .
“If Lineker were to inspire the government to take charge of the migrant crisis, the other people now calling for his dismissal would need him to get a statue in Trafalgar Square. “
Sharing the clip from Talk TV, Morgan added, “Bad news @ GaryLineker: I’m your defense,” to which Lineker responded, “I’m joooooEurope supported through data
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