Ian Wright has confirmed that he will not appear on Match of the Day again if beloved presenter Gary Lineker is sacked by the BBC.
Wright and his fellow pundits, including Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, have refused to appear on Saturday night's edition of Match of the Day after Lineker was taken off air for criticising the government's use of language towards migrants.
Saturday night's show will take place without a studio presentation, as commentators have also pulled out. The BBC's other Saturday football programmes, Football Focus and Final Score, have been scrapped altogether after pundits stood by Lineker in solidarity.
Wright confirmed his stance on the latest episode of the Wrighty's House podcast. He said, "Let me tell you something if the BBC do get rid of Gary Lineker I am out. I am gone, I am not staying there. On his own platform, he should be able to say what he wants to say.
"Gary Lineker, he says stuff on everything and it's almost like this one has missed everybody simply because he says so much but this is so right what he is saying. I have spoken to Gary, I am behind him."
The row started after the government announced their controversial Illegal Migration Bill on Tuesday. The legislation aims to detain migrants who enter the country via illegal routes without bail or judicial review before being deported and blocked from returning.
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Lineker described the bill as "beyond awful" and claimed the government's rhetoric was "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s". Several human rights groups and political commentators have also criticised home secretary Suella Braverman's legislation.
Lineker's comments were applauded by thousands of people, but they were also slammed by right-wing commentators and the Tory government - who pressurised the BBC to take action against Lineker. They did so on Friday night when he was taken off the air.
The BBC confirmed Lineker would "step back" from presenting Match of the Day until an agreement on his social media use was reached. It is believed Lineker did not agree to this and was forced out. Wright and his colleagues responded to this with a boycott.
Wright added, "He wrote a tweet about everything that has been happening with the human rights issues and everything here and it's the perfect distraction for this government. Gary's tweet was the headline news, it's like they need Gary Lineker to distract everybody. For me, it is a human issue it's not political.
"They have got no empathy, the most vulnerable ones are always the ones that suffer. They are the ones that suffer and it starts with words. Gary Lineker I think retweeted from a German professor because the [Adolf] Hitler thing is what they all jumped on and everything like that but he retweeted saying that it all starts with language.
"It starts with words, they didn't just start throwing people into concentration camps. It starts with words and language and what they are doing again is the culture war they want us to all have, left-versus-right: 'Oh you're woke, you're woke.'"
The Mirror has launched a petition to have Gary Lineker reinstated at the BBC and as the host of Match of the Day. Sign it here.
