Have I Got News For You viewers were left squirming as Gary Neville was ridiculed over his Qatar World Cup role.
Gary will commentate on the football events in the coming weeks for beIN Sports, something which he came under plenty of scrutiny for. The channel is owned by the Qatar state, and the Middle East country is under the spotlight due to its human rights record.
Despite the numerous concerns about the country hosting the World Cup, Neville revealed he would join the broadcaster as a pundit but quickly came under-fire from fans of the game - as well as his fellow panellists on the BBC show.
Speaking about the World Cup, Ian Hislop said: "The others have been very gentle with you. The elephant in the room is still there. You're commenting there, aren't you? And what's the defence?"
Gary then went on to say: "You've got a choice haven't you... My view has always been that you either highlight the issues and challenges in these countries and speak about them or you don't say anything and you stay back home."
"There's another option isn't there? You stay home and highlight it. You don't have to take the Qatari's money," Ian said to a round of applause from the audience, "It's just not a very good defence."
Fans of the show rushed to social media to slam Gary's decision, and praise Ian for calling him out.
"Well done, Ian Hislop and co, for highlighting the hypocrisy of @GNev2 and the others making money off of the #QatarWorldCup2022 whilst pretending they give a s*** about the human rights abuses #hignfy," one wrote, as another added: "Gary Neville unable to defend his position on taking money from #Quatar2022. Well done Ian Hislop #hignfy."
A third penned: "I’m a big supporter of Gary Neville and the work he does for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, but his justification for commentating in Qatar was really disappointing. You’re better than what you said there, @GNev2."
"Fair play Ian Hislop calling out Gary Neville and saying what the whole country is thinking #HIGNFY," a fourth shared.
It comes after Gary admitted he was worried about getting a "few punches" over his decision to commentate in Qatar.
"I’m about to get the call to go on stage and present Have I Got News For You," he said, " For the first time, probably, I’d say in maybe 10 years since I did my first Monday night football I actually feel quite nervous and a little bit…
"I used the word stretch, not stressed, a little bit stretched and I’m just videoing this in an uncomfortable moment because we sometimes put ourselves in these moments in life, we’ve never done it before."
He shared: "I always used to say it was like diving in the deep end as a kid when you haven’t got your arm bands on for the first time. You don’t know what’s going to happen, that little bit of trepidation."
