What did Gary Lineker tweet?

The BBC was thrown into a meltdown this weekend after presenters and pundits staged a mutiny in solidarity with Gary Lineker, who was forced off the air over a tweet about the government’s crackdown on asylum seekers.

Lineker who hosted game of the day has been embroiled in a dispute over impartiality for nearly a quarter of a century after comparing the language used to introduce a new asylum policy to 1930s Germany.

The settlement saw Lineker suspended from running the popular BBC show – prompting several other pundits including Ian Wright, Alan Shearer and Alex Scott to announce they would not be attending in solidarity with the former England striker.

Saturday’s episode of Match of the Day lasted “just 20 minutes” and took the form of a severely limited highlight program cobbled together at the last minute by panicked producers.

So what was the tweet that rocked the BBC?

On Tuesday, Lineker wrote on Twitter about a video in which Home Secretary Suella Braverman revealed plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel on small boats, saying the UK was “overwhelmed”.

Ms Braverman, previously chastised for comparing migrant crossings to an “invasion”, has been heavily criticized for her use of language on the matter.

“Gosh this is beyond horrible,” Lineker wrote in response to the video.

Another Twitter user described his comment to the sports channel as “not okay,” adding that it’s “easy to preach when it doesn’t concern you.”

Lineker replied, “There is not a large influx. We take in far fewer refugees than other large European countries.

“This is just immeasurably cruel policy aimed at the weakest, in language not unlike that of Germany in the ’30s, and I’m out of order?”

Some MPs called Mr Lineker’s comments rash – but the moderator hit back at his critics, accusing some “free speech advocates” of “demanding silence from those with whom they disagree”.

And in a follow-up tweet Wednesday morning, he vowed to continue to stand up for the “voiceless.”

A statement from the BBC said Lineker will not return to his long-standing presenting role “until we have an agreed and clear position on his use of social media”.

Saturday night’s limited Match Of The Day was watched by 2.6million viewers, according to overnight figures reported by BBC News – almost half a million more than last week’s show.

However, the program was radically different with a reduced running time and only short highlight clips of the day’s matches.