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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Zara Woodcock

Gary Lineker's VERY sassy response to BBC impartiality rules as he refuses to bow down

Gary Lineker is not bothered by the BBC director-general's new rules for staff to stop tweeting about politics.

The Match of the Day star doesn't seem too concerned by the new rules and took to Twitter to respond to it.

After hearing the news of BBC staff needing to be impartial on social media, a fan suggested Gary would be terrified of the changes.

"Must be a double pants moment for @GaryLineker," the user tweeted along with an article headline.

Clearly unbothered, Gary responded: "Nah".

Gary freelances for the BBC and will not be completely affected by the company's rules which stop full-time employees from sharing their political opinions.

Gary isn't bothered by the impartiality rules (BBC)

A BBC spokesman stated: "[Lineker] is not involved in any news or political output for the BBC and, as such, any expression of his personal political views does not affect the BBC's impartiality."

Director General of the BBC Tim Davie hopes the changes will stop the claims of bias that have hit the BBC.

Davie said: "If you want to be an opinionated columnist or a partisan campaigner on social media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC.

Lineker, who welcomed a second refugee into his home last year, has been open about his opinions and previously shared his thoughts on Brexit, refugees and immigration policies.

He recently poked fun at the commotion surrounding his comments on the government's controversial new Illegal Migration Bill.

Lineker described the bill as "beyond awful" after it was unveiled by home secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday.

Tim Davie is planning a BBC shake-up (Getty Images)

The star thanked fans and made light of the situation on Wednesday morning by tweeting: "Morning all. Anything going on?"

He also responded to critics by saying: "Great to see the freedom of speech champions out in force this morning demanding silence from those with whom they disagree."

It was later reported the BBC planned to speak to Gary about his comments and he would be "reminded of his responsibilities on social media".

He responded to the commotion surrounding his recent tweets (High Performance)

Last year, he was named the BBC's top-earning on-air star for the fifth year in a row.

Guidelines were announced by the BBC to "ensure the highest possible standards of impartiality” among staff at the broadcaster."

Back in August, BBC journalist Neil Henderson asked whether Gary signed a contract that allowed him to breach the rules after a tweet about sewage being pumped into the sea.

At the time, Gary wrote: "As a politician how could you ever, under any circumstances, bring yourself to vote for pumping sewage into our seas? Unfathomable!”

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