[Jeff]

The issue though is this isn't the first time Linekar expressing his political/personal opinions on Twitter has caused issues (whether real or perceived) for the BBC. If it was, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion because it would either be a kerfuffle (particularly in media outlets hostile to the BBC) or handled differently.

Do you not think, though, that these issues are deliberately blown up by... certain elements, who have a problem with the BBC anyway? I tend to think that if the BBC turned into GB News Mk II overnight, these people still wouldn't be satisfied, because many of them don't agree with the TV licence or the idea of a publicly funded broadcaster. Gary Lineker happens to have politics that these people don't share, so he is a very easy target for them.

Of course and there are all sorts of double standards at play here by both sides of the debate. However, think it wasn't a question of if but when Linekar's tweeting would result in a 'flash point' moment (like the one we're seeing playing out) as a result of the things I outlined in my previous posts about this.

[UTVLifer]

Six commentators have pulled out

twitter.com 

[dvboy]

I expect they will be relying on PLP for some of the interviews as well as world feed commentary

[lepeterrr]

Why don't they just drop MOTD for a week?

[XIII]

I wonder why they've decided to only boycott MOTD rather than all of the BBC sports coverage which would have a bigger impact.

[Newshound47]

It’s going to be interesting to see how Football Focus and Final Score will reference things.

[Kojak]

I wonder why they've decided to only boycott MOTD rather than all of the BBC sports coverage which would have a bigger impact.

Because MOTD is Gary Lineker's show. By boycotting that, the presenters/commentators are showing solidarity with him. They're not going to cut their noses off to spite their faces.

[AJB39]

Why don't they just drop MOTD for a week?

Because they’ve signed a multi-million pound contract to broadcast the highlights.

[Andrew]

Six commentators have pulled out

twitter.com 

This is a good example of how something can escalate, probably moved along by social media and the pressure to be seen to do the right thing

Will it extend to MOTD2, will it extend to Final Score?

[RhysJR]

twitter.com 

twitter.com 

The sensible thing indeed would be to use the world feed commentators. But their appearance on the show (of which they would have no say on I suspect) would likely result in abuse or reputation damage their way in the eyes of a lot of people (especially on social media networks) who would not be able to distinguish between someone working for the BBC and somebody working for Premier League Productions/IMG/Sky (especially as a few of those voices would have appeared on the BBC often). Would it be fair for the BBC to burden these external faces with that, even though there is not many other options now.