Netflix Condemned for Gary Lineker Deal After BBC Antisemitism Scandal
Netflix stands accused of “rewarding hateful rhetoric” by signing Gary Lineker in a lucrative deal after he quit the BBC over an antisemitic post he shared about Zionism with an image of a rat. The Jewish Chronicle has the story.
The presenter was accused of antisemitism in May when he shared a social media post about Zionism featuring an image of a rat. Lineker strenuously denied the allegation, insisting he had been ignorant of the symbol, but he subsequently stepped down from his £1.35-million-a-year job fronting football highlights show Match of the Day.
Despite the outcry in the UK, US streaming giant Netflix has struck a deal with the former England footballer to broadcast a series of podcasts during next year’s World Cup, which is taking place across the North American continent.
Lineker’s lucrative new deal will reportedly net him more than what he was being paid by the BBC. He is one of the most recognised faces on television in the UK, but the new link-up with Netflix will undoubtedly raise his profile around the world.
Several campaign groups have angrily criticised the project including the US-based lobby group the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera).
Camera CEO Kurt Schwartz said: “Mr Lineker has not just been guilty of the odd awkward remark, but has routinely used his platform to spread lies and vitriol about Israel.
Referring to the death of a Palestinian footballer, who it emerged was a Hamas terrorist and whose demise Lineker lamented on social media, Schwartz said: “He has failed to apologise for mourning a Hamas terrorist, defended the BBC’s surreptitious use of a Hamas-affiliated narrator in programming about Gaza, and shared a video about Zionism that included antisemitic rat imagery.”
“That Netflix would offer Lineker a megaphone despite his sordid track record, even as the BBC rightly distances itself from him, is a slap in the face to its customers, Jewish and otherwise. Hateful rhetoric should be marginalised. Netflix is doing the opposite.”
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They will come to regret this. The man is poisonoius. Also a typical champagne socialist.
I’m surprised by this deal but then I don’t understand why anyone watches this bloke. I guess we’re all different.
Yeah, I agree.
I understand and appreciate that football fans want to watch games but what’s the attraction of the endless analysis and commentary after the matches?
And to think that someone is considered worth millions to do it?
I love watching sport, preferably with no commentary and certainly not the preamble or the post mortem. Much more fun doing sport though.
Is he even any good at the analysis side? I wouldn’t know.
Much better with Kelly Cates doing MOTD.
agreed – I’m ok with this, Netflix are a private company, not a national broadcaster, therefore they can, and do, waste their money on whatever dross they want – it’s up to them. Viewing /listening data on their platform will always be the decider on renewals
I can’t stand Lineker or his views, but I actually think it’s helpful for him to have a platform so everyone can see and hear the claptrap he spouts and the vileness of his ideas and his hypocrisy. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. As long as I am not paying for it.
I’m surprised if Netflix care given they get a lot of criticism for some of their other output and they don’t seem to care then either.
I hope Paramount succeed in their bid to take over Warner Bros instead of Netflix.
They offered Megan and Harry a deal….
We’re allowed, even encouraged, to be Russophobic, why can’t people be anti-semitic, or actually anti-Israel, if that’s what they want to be?