S8 EP1: Gary Lineker on England’s losing streak, leaving the BBC, and his frosty relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo

Where this was said

The Instagram Post, the Rat Emoji and the BBC Departure

At 59:30 · chapter starts 58:40

The tone changes markedly when Theroux raises the 2024 Instagram post. Lineker drops his earlier defensiveness entirely: this one was his fault. He shared a story from a group called Palestine Lobby without noticing a rat emoji — an antisemitic trope used by Nazi Germany to dehumanise Jews. He says he would not have shared it had he seen the image, that even his harshest critics don't seriously believe he did it deliberately, and that he apologised willingly. He also addresses Matthew Syed's Times column that accused him of 'brazenly betraying' impartiality pledges, dismissing Syed as 'clickbait' and denying the specific contractual claim as factually wrong. The broader reflection is that after 26 years, the relationship with the BBC was anyway running out of road: 'like a marriage starting to run out of love.' The Instagram post simply accelerated the inevitable. ^{[1] — Gary Lineker "Lineker shared an Instagram story from a group called Palestine Lobby that contained a rat emoji — an antisemitic trope from Nazi Germany —…" 58:30 Play}