BBC suspended Gary Lineker over a tweet — its football shows then walked out

On 10 March 2023 the BBC told Gary Lineker — its highest-paid presenter and the face of Match of the Day — to step back from the show, saying it considered his social media activity about the government's asylum policy to be 'a breach of our guidelines'. It asked him to stand down 'until we've got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media', after 'extensive discussions with Gary and his team'.

The decision backfired within a day. Alan Shearer and Ian Wright said they would not appear on the show in solidarity; Jermain Defoe stood down from punditry; and 'a large number of presenters and commentators' joined the boycott. The 11 March edition of Match of the Day ran for 20 minutes with no commentary, and the weekend's sports programming was disrupted. Director general Tim Davie apologised on air for the disruption.

Three days after the suspension, the BBC reversed. Lineker returned to presenting sport, Davie publicly apologised for 'the widespread disruption to sports programming over the weekend', and the corporation announced an independent review of its social media guidance, 'with a particular focus on how it applies to freelancers outside news and current affairs'. The BBC never published a figure for what the episode cost; the acknowledged cost was the disruption itself.

The BBC reversed within three days, apologizing and launching a review, turning the suspension itself into the costly story.

The BBC made a public ruling on its own grey area: the 2020 social media guidance was vague about freelancers, so the suspension looked like political pressure rather than policy.

One presenter's suspension became a suspension of the whole football output: pundits and commentators sided with Lineker, and a 20-minute Match of the Day was the operating cost.

The reversal tripled the price: an apology, an independent review and a reinstatement in three days made the original decision the story, not the tweet that caused it.

A rules decision made in public costs more than the rule is worth: the BBC suspended one presenter, and three days of apology, boycott and review later, the decision itself had become the problem.

Lineker returned to Match of the Day on 13 March 2023. Director general Tim Davie apologised for the weekend's disruption and announced an independent review of the BBC's social media guidance, with particular focus on how it applies to freelancers outside news and current affairs. The BBC published no cost figure for the episode. The row made the BBC's social media rules a public issue and left the corporation's relationship with its star presenters visibly strained.