Richard Madeley and Gary Lineker butted heads during the BBC presenter’s appearance on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday.
Gary was interviewed on the ITV breakfast show to promote his returning quiz show Sitting On A Fortune, but the conversation naturally turned to the BBC impartiality row he found himself at the centre of earlier this year.
The former footballer was told to step back from hosting Match Of The Day back in March over a tweet criticising a new government migrant policy.
Richard pointed out that he had defended Gary at the time, noting that he was not a political presenter.
But Gary accused Richard of “misrepresenting his words” when the host said he’d disagreed with the use of language in his tweet.
“I disagreed with what you actually said, which was essentially to compare the British government today in 2023 to the Nazi government dictatorship in the 1930s,” Richard said.
“Already you’ve misrepresented what I said, and that’s what happened because of the Daily Mail headline which caused this furore in the first place,” Gary replied.
Gary continued: “I didn’t compare the government to the Nazis, I didn’t talk about the Holocaust, I didn’t do any of that. All I said was, some of the language is not dissimilar to that used back in the 30s in Germany and there is a substantial difference in that.
“But it’s amazing how many people do think that, because they see a front page headline of a newspaper. But that’s water under the bridge now. All is well with the world, it was a very disproportionate story… common sense prevailed.”
Richard asked to “paddle” in the water that was “under the bridge” a little longer, asking: “What was similar about the way Nazis spoke about race and immigration to the way the British government talks about race and immigration?”
“Again you’re using the term about Nazis and trying to connect it with this government,” Gary said.
“Well, it was a Nazi government,” Richard argued. “Sorry, if you talk about the German government in the early 1930s, you may not use the word... but it was a Nazi government. You can’t pretend it wasn’t.”
“I was talking about some of the language that is not dissimilar and that is very much the case,” Gary said.
“We use the words ‘swarm’, we use the word ‘invasion’, we use the word ‘rapists’ – all these for people who are fleeing persecution, fleeing war, awful circumstances.
“All I was trying to say is that we can use kinder language and it was nothing more and nothing less than that, Richard.”
When asked whether Gary thought he had to choose between being a politician or a public broadcaster he said, “I think I can and I am.
“I think it’s really important if you’ve got a big platform to try and use it for what you think is for the good and that’s what I’ve always done, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.
“People are entitled to opinions. Some of these people who perhaps complain about certain things are also the massive campaigners of free speech, so you can’t have it all ways but they’re entitled to their opinion. I’m absolutely happy with that.”
Gary’s return came after a row regarding the presenter’s response on Twitter to a Home Office video – in which home secretary Suella Braverman unveiled the government’s plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel on small boats – saying the language used was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.
He faced criticism at time from members of the Tory party, including the home secretary and the prime minister.
After criticism of the BBC’s decision to make Gary step back from last weekend’s Match Of The Day, the director general Tim Davie said there would be an independent review of the corporation’s social media guidance in light of the controversy.
During his GMB interview, Gary was also questioned about potential conflicts working for the publicly funded broadcaster.
He said: “I’m a freelancer, I’m here to promote a show, Sitting on a Fortune, which is an ITV show. I’m on all sorts of platforms.
“It was a silly story that was kind of blown up because I was misrepresented, but I think it got resolved in the end and we’ll carry on for the time being.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.