Fatboy Slim has shown his support for Gary Lineker in a unique way.
The acclaimed DJ, real name Normal Quentin Cook, was performing a major gig in Manchester on Friday night when he used the opportunity to air his ‘respect’ for the pundit.
Lineker is embroiled in a row with the BBC over impartiality after he compared the UK government’s language around migrants to the language used in 1930s Germany.
It was confirmed on Friday that Lineker would ‘step back’ from presenting the BBC show Match Of The Day ‘until an agreement is reached on his social media use.’
A string of pundits refused to appear on the show as a result, with the network now confirming the show would ‘focus on match action without presentation or punditry.’
Now Slim has also shown he is on Lineker’s side as he got audiences to applaud in solidarity with the sports broadcaster.
During a gig at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, Lineker’s face was beamed on stage as part of the visual effects used throughout the gig.
As his face appeared, Slim turned his back on the audience to applaud, urging the crowd to do the same, with audience members erupting in cheers.
Other famous faces including the likes of Prince and Greta Thunberg were also broadcast on stage at different parts of the night.
Slim later took to Twitter where he shared a clip of the moment, writing in the caption: ‘Enough respect #ImWithGary.’
The BBC have said Lineker, who is a freelance employee who has hosted MOTD since 1999, must ‘keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies’ as the network must remain impartial.
Lineker had responded to a video by Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Twitter in which she called to ‘stop the boats’ with a new Illegal Migration Bill earlier this week, leading to a major row about freedom of speech and impartiality.
He called the video an ‘immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.’
Lineker was previously found to have broken the broadcaster’s impartiality rules last year with a tweet about Liz Truss and the Conservative Party.
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