LONDON (AP) — Former England captain Gary Lineker will not present a soccer highlights show on the BBC until an agreement is reached on his social media use, the network said on Friday.
Lineker criticized the British government's new asylum policy in a Twitter post, comparing lawmakers' language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.
The BBC considers Lineker posting such views on social media as a breach of its guidelines. It has been in discussions with Lineker over his involvement in the "Match of the Day" program that is broadcast on Saturday nights and shows highlights of English Premier League games that day.
"The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting 'Match of the Day,'" the broadcaster said, "until we've got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.
"We have never said that Gary should be an opinion-free zone, or that he can't have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies."
Lineker has yet to make an official comment.
Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, former England players who work as pundits on "Match of the Day," said on Twitter they would not be appearing on the program this weekend.
Wright said he had taken the decision out of "solidarity" with Lineker.
Dan Walker, a former presenter on the BBC, said he had been in contact with Lineker and asked him "whether he is stepping back or whether the BBC have told him to step back."
Walker said Lineker replied that the BBC "told me I have to step back."
"So Gary Lineker wants to continue to present 'Match Of The Day' and is not apologizing for what he has said," Walker said on Channel 5, where he works, "but he has said it's a BBC decision to force him to not present the program at the moment."
Conservative lawmakers in Britain are calling on the BBC to discipline Lineker, the network's highest-paid star, for saying the government's plan to detain and deport migrants arriving by boat is "an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."
The government has called Lineker's Nazi comparison inappropriate and unacceptable, and some lawmakers said he should be fired.
The 62-year-old Lineker is a household name in Britain and one of the U.K.'s most influential media figures, with 8.7 million followers on Twitter. He was the leading scorer at the 1986 World Cup and finished his international career with 48 goals in 80 matches for England.
