Lord Sugar has finally waded into the Gary Lineker row after his name was brought up by arch-nemesis Piers Morgan and other stars to highlight the BBC's alleged hypocricy.
The BBC announced on Friday evening that it had pulled Lineker off air from Saturday's Match Of The Day after he appeared to draw comparisons between the government's new Illegal Migration Bill and Nazi Germany in a tweet.
Lineker, 62, described the controversial bill - unveiled by home secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday to a wave of backlash - as "beyond awful", later adding: "This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."
A number of celebrities have since spoken up about the situation after the legendary footballer refused to delete his tweet, with the issue turning into a freedom of speech debate.
Among those to voice their opinion had been wildlife presenter Chris Packham, who shared tweets from Lord Sugar – who he said was a BBC employee - criticising transport union boss Mick Lynch over strike action.
In the tweets from December 2022, Lord Sugar blasts Lynch saying: “Hello Mick Lynch hope you are happy yourself bringing the country to its knees over Xmas.
“You don’t fool me waiting for the employers to come to table. You love the publicity. Your members would like to earn what you get. Why don’t you waive your salary.”
A follow-up tweet added: “Mick Lynch loves the cameras. He got stitched up on @GMB today. Next thing he’ll be doing Strictly or appearing on Graham Norton. Anyone know how much he is paid.”
Showing his support for Lineker, Chris wrote alongside Lord Sugar’s tweets: "How about some essential balance? Just like Gary this bloke is sometimes employed by the BBC for his respected expertise. He too presents his views publicly.
“Just wondering if anyone in the government wants to retrospectively kick off about these tweets? Nah, don’t suppose so.”
Piers Morgan appeared to agree and also dropped Lord Sugar's name as he slammed the BBC's "spineless" decision to suspend Lineker.
He wrote: "WTF? How pathetically spineless.. I now demand the BBC suspend every presenter who has made public comment about news or current affairs - starting with Sir David Attenborough and Lord Sugar."
Seemingly unimpressed, Lord Sugar responded some hours later at 2.32am, tweeting: "Piers my comments on twitter are all about what a double barrel prat you are. Agreed by most of the population and certainly not a sackable offence @piersmorgan."
Morgan hit back, tweeting this morning: "Morning M'Lord, I bow to your expertise in what it takes to be a 'double barrel prat' - though given I have 3.2 million more followers than you, you should fire yourself from Twitter for being such a double barrel loser."
He then went on to share an old front page of The Sun with Lord Sugar's face on it and the headline reading: "You're fired Corbyn. Ex-Labour peer says vote Tory."
"BBC presenters aren't allowed to be political...." Morgan tweeted.
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.
