Gary Lineker has taken to Twitter again to make a powerful statement – this time changing his profile picture to apparently send a message to the BBC.
The broadcaster was reinstated as host of Match Of The Day on Monday after a row with the corporation over his online attacks on the government.
Lineker now appears to have changed his Twitter profile picture to make a point about free speech.
In it, the former England striker is standing next to an inscription that’s emblazoned next to a statute of George Orwell outside the BBC headquarters.
The words, which featured in an unpublished preface to Orwell’s Animal Farm, read: “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
The 62-year-old former England striker was taken off air for a tweet comparing the language used to launch a new government asylum seeker policy to that of 1930s Germany.
He is to return to Match Of The Day on Saturday after football coverage on BBC TV and radio was hit across the weekend as pundits, presenters and reporters – including Alan Shearer, Ian Wright and Alex Scott – joined a walkout in solidarity with Lineker.
The BBC has apologised and announced a review of social media guidelines at the broadcaster.