Gary Lineker has been taking a fair amount of shit for comments he made about the treatment by some people of young refugees seeking asylum in Britain.
The England legend was lambasted by sections of the media for apparently daring to stick his head above the parapet about what is clearly an emotive issue, whatever your view point may be.
His crime? Seemingly showing a modicum of compassion to fellow humans who happen to be fleeing a war.
While we completely forgot that if you’ve ever been a famous footballer or you’re earning a decent wage that you’re not allowed to voice any kind of opinion on anything, luckily The Sun newspaper didn’t – and they’ve been taking him to task for it.
Not only did they print a front page splash calling for the popular Match of the Day presenter to be sacked from his job on the BBC’s flagship football show, they then continued to stick the boot in on him with several pointed newspaper columns.
Former editor of The Sun Kelvin Mackenzie, who is now a columnist for the paper, was one of those lining up to attack the former Spurs and Everton man.
Mackenzie – the man universally despised on Merseyside for his coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy – penned a column calling him a ‘luvvie’ and claiming those with a ‘common-sense view of immigration are denied a chance to air their thoughts’ (presumably except on almost every mainstream media outlet).
But Lineker cheekily hit back at Mackenzie with a sarcastic dig, saying ‘it’s not like you to be inaccurate’, which surely must be a reference to his coverage of Hillsborough which at the time wrongly smeared Liverpool fans.
My personal views were made on Twitter not TV. Not like you to be inaccurate! pic.twitter.com/Zkmpwwh6lZ
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) October 24, 2016
From out of nowhere, Harry Potter author JK Rowling swooped in to back up Lineker with a truly withering put-down.
Rowling tweeted an image of the column, which was headlined: “Luvvies always have a voice but who on TV dares speak up for the rest of us?” above which she wrote “Kelvin MacKenzie, famous champion of the common man, wading into his second big story about the deaths of innocent people and football.”
Kelvin Mackenzie, famous champion of the common man, wading into his second big story about the deaths of innocent people and football. pic.twitter.com/8mLQXSxHGH
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 24, 2016
Rowling’s tweet made direct reference to Mackenzie’s stint as Sun editor when he published a front page entitled ‘The Truth’ in the wake of Hillsborough which wrongly blamed Liverpool fans for the disaster.
She wasn’t the only one who found Mackenzie’s barbed Lineker column a bit rich.
https://twitter.com/BestoftheMail/status/790495946920648704
Never thought the day would arrive when a person is viciously & systematically attacked for being compassionate. Sad times
— Neil Humphreys (@NeilHumphreys) October 24, 2016
I love the way he uses "the rest of us". Might as well say "Who will speak up for poor newspaper columnists who have no voice?"
— Paul Hunt (@pahunt1978) October 24, 2016
@peterjukes Ah yes, the poor neglected silent minority of xenophobic shock hacks. Will their voices never be heard?
— My Sweet Landlord (@MySweetLandlord) October 24, 2016
He means: "Those of us who don't like foreigners have right 2 b heard" Funny, seems 2 me that 4 months we've heard nothing but
— Marc Limon (@marc_limon) October 24, 2016
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