As the impact from Gary Lineker’s dismissal from Match Of The Day continues, the BBC Sports Northern Ireland account has liked a tweet criticising him.
The football commentator compared the government’s new migration strategy, which aims to stop boats from entering the UK, to Germany in the 1930s.
The 62-year-old has become a national hero after refusing to apologise for his remarks, which enraged members of the Conservative administration.
Celebrities like as Dan Walker and Piers Morgan have backed the former player’s right to free speech while criticising the BBC’s reaction.
The Line of Duty broadcaster urged Lineker to stand down from his Match Of The Day responsibilities, and other experts, including Alan Shearer, refused to go on the show in solidarity with him.
During the controversy, the BBC Sports Northern Ireland official Twitter liked two tweets from DUP MLA Edwin Poots and ex-Labour MP Kate Hoey.
While the remarks have subsequently been disliked, The Belfast Telegraph received screenshots of them.
Hoey wrote: ‘Gary Lineker is entitled to his views – he is not entitled to use his privileged position as a BBC commentator to preach when he is paid by the licence fee to comment on football.
‘It is a publicly owned broadcaster. If he doesn’t like that he can go to a privately run TV station.’
Poots said: ‘I seldom watch BBC, but will tun in for Match of the Day tonight. It used to be my favourite programme.’
A BBC NI spokesperson said: ‘This was done in error and is a serious mistake.
‘It was remedied quickly and an investigation into what happened is now underway.’
Meanwhile, the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, has apologised for the interruption in sports programming caused by Gary Lineker’s departure from Match Of The Day.
He did add that it had been a ‘difficult day’, saying: ‘I’m sorry audiences have been affected and they haven’t got the programming.’
In an interview in Washington DC, he continued: ‘As a keen sports fan I know to miss programming is a real blow and I’m sorry about that.
‘We are working very hard to resolve this situation and make sure we get output on air.
Source My Celebrity Life.
