Gary Lineker’s son receives death threat of being ‘burned at the stake’ in wake of presenter’s Twitter furore

14 March 2023, 12:14 | Updated: 14 March 2023, 12:16

Gary Lineker’s son has received death threats of being ‘burned at the stake’ amid the presenter’s Twitter row.

Lineker directly questioned Twitter owner Elon Musk after his son revealed one of many threatening messages he had been sent for voicing his support towards his dad.

The former footballer re-shared the private message which said his eldest son, George, should to be "burned at the stake".

The abusive message, from an account with only one follower, described George as a "mug" for "sticking up" for what his father said.

It comes after Lineker was briefly suspended as host of Match of the Day (MOTD) at the weekend in a row over his tweets about the government's controversial migrant plan.

His tweet compared language used to launch the new government asylum policy with "that used by Germany in the 30s".

Lineker wrote: "Is this acceptable @Twitter @elonmusk? And I don't mean the grammar."

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Earlier in the day, George had tweeted: "Social media's mad isn't it. Over the last few days, on insta - never had so many nice messages. On Twitter - never had so much abuse.

"It's not even anything to do with me."

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 subsequently apologised and reinstated him as host of MOTD on Monday, while director-general Tim Davie announced a review of social media guidelines at the broadcaster.

Responding to the news at the time, George tweeted: "Nice work Gaz."

But Lineker and other employees of the BBC have since received abuse online following the incident.

On Monday, sports presenter Mark Chapman returned after boycotting his weekend shows and noted that some staff members had been "at the receiving end of abuse for just doing their jobs".

He added: "It is disgusting and unfair, and it is ironic that, in a row over impartiality, we have all been seen to be taking sides, and I feel there are lessons to be learned by all involved."

The BBC said on Monday that Mr Davie had sent an email to all staff in which he said: "I want to acknowledge how challenging the last few days have been and to say how grateful I am for all your work during this weekend's disruption."

Twitter and the BBC have been contacted for comment.