Last month, the Match of The Day, 62, host slammed the Home Office after its controversial policy to stop illegal boats carrying migrants from reaching the UK.
The former pro footballer wrote: ‘This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?’
The comments were at the centre of a national debate, with Lineker later describing the backlash as a ‘ridiculously out of proportion story.’
He later returned to his Match Of The Day after being temporarily suspended following a boycott from his co-stars Alan Shearer and Ian Wright.
Reflecting on the controversy, Lineker told Men’s Health UK: ‘When I sent that tweet, it honestly never even crossed my mind that it would lead to where it went.’
‘Then the ‘stick to football’ people weighed in and I replied to one of them, just saying there was no massive influx, the UK takes far fewer refugees than other European countries, this is a cruel policy, and the language used in the debate reminds us of the debate in Germany in the 1930s.
‘I think that is factually accurate.’
The football pundit later revealed that he wasn’t prepared to ‘back down’ from his views despite the backlash, but stressed he wasn’t being ‘abusive.’
‘I wasn’t saying she (Braverman) was a Nazi,’ he added.
‘I talked about the use of words like ‘invasion’ and ‘swarms’ and ‘criminals’ and ‘rapists’, which I think we should be very careful about because it has real-life consequences.’
The BBC later confirmed in a statement that Lineker would return, with Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, saying in a statement: ‘Gary is a valued part of the BBC and I know how much the BBC means to Gary, and I look forward to him presenting our coverage this coming weekend.’
Lineker added: ‘I am glad that we have found a way forward. I support this review and look forward to getting back on air.’
In addition to the scaled-down version of this weekend’s MOTD, Football Focus and Final Score were also cancelled on Saturday.
The BBC apologised for disruption the changes to the schedule would cause sports fans.
Read Gary Lineker’s full interview at menshealth.com.
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