Despite considering himself "as English as they come", Gary Lineker has revealed that he suffered "racist abuse" as a youngster. The England legend said that he was subjected to racism due to his "darkish skin".
He made the comments during an appearance on The High Performance Podcost, which interviews highly achieving individuals. Lineker said that the abuse was prevalent in his life as a child and during his footballing career. He said: "Without being good at sport, life would have been very different for me. I think I would have been bullied at school - I was a tiny, geeky kid with darkish skin.
"I had pretty much racist abuse, although I'm as English as they come, all the time. Even in professional football, I had that a couple of times. I wouldn't name names, but I got that kind of nonsense, which was a bit weird."
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But, unsurprisingly, his comments have not gone down too well with many people. Some have even accused the former striker of "cultural appropriation".
GBNews presenter, Calvin Robinson, said: "I'm not the person to use 'the race card' but I find that offensive. I find that outrageous. That's undermining genuine racism that's happening in this country. This is cultural appropriation, isn't it? Outright."
And many others took to Twitter to share their shock at Lineker's comments. Zeze Millz said: "Gary Lineker saying he suffered from racial abuse due to his “darkish skin” shows how being discriminated against is the new “cool”. People so desperately want to have a struggle story".
And Rael James Mason said: "I have no doubt that Gary Lineker suffered some abuse as a kid in the 60s and 70s with “darkish skin” but probably don’t use the term “racist abuse” and definitely don’t follow it up with “I’m as English as they come.”
But fan, Ben Irvine, disagreed with the outrage. He said: "Re Gary Lineker, I must say he DID have darkish skin when he was a pro footballer. As a kid supporting Spurs, I loved him. I remember him looking kinda different, mysterious. I can believe some idiots would give him racist abuse. I think he's being slammed unfairly this time TBH."
What did you make of Gary Lineker's comments? Let us know!
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