Gary Lineker: ‘If I wanted a quiet and easy life I could have shut up’

Gary Lineker has said that if he “wanted a quiet and easy life I could have shut up” as he reflected on his various BBC controversies.

The former Match Of The Day presenter stepped down from his role at the BBC in May last year following criticism for airing his political opinions on social media.

At the Edinburgh TV Festival, in conversation with Netflix’s director of documentary series Adam Hawkins, who is also the festival’s advisory chair, Lineker spoke about using his platform to “address things that upset me”.

Presenter and former footballer Gary Lineker discussed using social media to share his views (Jane Barlow/PA)

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The 65-year-old said: “I don’t really speak much about politics, but politics is involved in everything that I speak about.

“Ultimately you need to live with yourself, and if I see things that upset me in humanitarian terms and I find it quite upsetting, it triggers me to use a platform I would have never had before.

“People can disagree and they do and that’s absolutely fine.”

The former footballer continued: “With the BBC it’s important to tell the whole story.

“At the start with the BBC, for 20 years, there was never a question of impartiality applying to those who were outside news and current affairs.

“I would post refugees and humanitarian issues, but then in 2019 the BBC moved the goalpost and said it applied to everyone and I said it wasn’t in my contract.

“I remember speaking with the director-general and said I would change and I would speak up if I wanted.

“I said I would be cautious and it would be about humanitarian issues and I carried on.

Gary Lineker said: ‘If I wanted a quiet and easy life I could have just shut up… but I’m an idiot’ (Ian West/PA)

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“If I wanted a quiet and easy life I could have just shut up… but I’m an idiot.”

During the interview, Lineker said: “You won’t see me being abusive to anyone on socials – I don’t bother with it now though.

“I actually don’t know how to do a post on Instagram anymore – I have no idea how to do it after they changed it and I came off X a few years ago after it became a hateful, spiteful place.”

He said that joining X began as a “bit of fun” and initially suited him and his “stupid dad jokes”, but Lineker said that after Elon Musk took over, it became “awful”.

“I still have it and sometimes use it, but by and large it’s largely Instagram now,” he added.

Lineker previously hosted the BBC’s flagship football show Match Of The Day, but left the programme in May 2025 after a row following an Instagram post he made about Zionism, which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult.

The sports broadcaster apologised for the post, adding that he did not see the rat visual and that he did not think “anyone actually believes I would’ve posted that”.

Lineker was the BBC’s highest-paid presenter, having headed the show since 1999, and also fronted the broadcaster’s coverage of other major sporting events, including the 2012 London Olympics.