Former English football star Gary Lineker revealed on Tuesday his son George was subjected to abuse and received ‘death threat’ on Twitter for taking his side in the BBC controversy. Lineker, who is now a sports presenter with the BBC, took to Twitter to share a screenshot of the ‘threat,’ and asked the microblogging website’s owner, Elon Musk, if giving threats on the platform was acceptable.
“Is this acceptable @Twitter @elonmusk? And I don’t mean the grammar,” the former footballer, 62, said in his tweet.
The screenshot was originally shared by George Lineker, who said in a previous tweet, “Social media is mad isn’t it. Over the last few days, on insta – never had so many nice messages. On Twitter – never had so much abuse. It’s not even anything to do with me.”
Twitter user Alex – who has since deactivated the account (@Aljedd6614) which was opened in December last year and had just one follower – called George and Gary Lineker a ‘mug’ and ‘s*******e of a dad,’ respectively, and said that the former ‘need to be burned at the stake.’
While Musk is yet to respond to the retired England great’s post, users in its comments section were outraged at the abuse.
What is the BBC controversy?
Gary Lineker, who presents the Match Of The Day (MOTD) – an English Premier League (EPL) highlights show – for the British Broadcasting Corporation, was suspended by the national broadcaster for criticising the British government’s new asylum policy. The suspension, however, triggered massive outrage, with parliamentarians, media personalities, sports pundits and footballers coming out in his support.
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Also, several BBC anchors, in solidarity with Lineker, refused to host their respective shows. Eventually, his suspension was reversed, with BBC boss Tim Davie apolgising for the ‘difficult period for staff, contributors, presenters and, most importantly, our audiences.’