When Gary Lineker was dismissed by the BBC last year, he left with a confident grin.
Having been the face of Match Of The Day for a quarter of a century and behind some of Britain’s most popular podcasts, Lineker likely anticipated that another broadcaster would soon come calling. And he was spot on.
In December, the 65-year-old, known for his outspoken left-leaning views on social media, inked what insiders describe as a ‘highly lucrative’ contract with Netflix for his podcast, The Rest Is Football. The plan is for the former England striker to host the show from the World Cup in the US this summer.
For someone who thrives on hosting major events, his friends say this opportunity is a dream come true.
However, it might not be as straightforward as Lineker initially thought.
I’ve heard there is considerable anxiety among his new employers at the streaming giant about his social media activity, particularly his candid criticisms of US President Donald Trump. These outspoken views could potentially hinder his chances of obtaining a visa to enter the United States.
Proposals by the US Customs and Border Protection, published in December, could require anyone planning to enter the US from the UK to provide their social media posts from the past five years.
There have already been reports of visas being revoked for tourists at the border after ‘anti-Trump’ memes were found on their phones, and commentators suggest anyone expressing ‘anti-American views’ online could be barred from entry.
There is ‘deep concern’ among Gary Lineker’s new bosses at the streaming giant over his social media posts
The US government’s website says its proposed policies aim ‘to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests’.
But if father-of-four Lineker is aware of the proposed updates, he appears undeterred.
As recently as last Sunday he unleashed another criticism of Trump to his 1.4 million Instagram followers, labelling the US President’s newly established Board of Peace – a body tasked with overseeing the Gaza peace plan, and promoting peacekeeping around the world – ‘unashamedly vain’ and ‘absurd’. He also re-posted a satirical video by the political campaign group Led By Donkeys lambasting the Board. Netflix bosses are aware of others.
But while many in the streaming giant’s upper echelons are sympathetic to Lineker’s views, they are also acutely aware that their lead talent expressing them so publicly could have an impact on the success of their money-spinning project, which is due to start in June.
A Netflix source tells me: ‘The proposed Gary Lineker World Cup show this year is due to come from New York but real fears have been expressed internally by Netflix’s legal team that Gary may not have a US visa granted, or be allowed into the country.
‘This would be disastrous and very, very costly, not to mention deeply embarrassing for Netflix. Imagine if Trump decides to go for Gary – he’s super Left-wing, so the polar opposite to him. Let’s see. Maybe the President will decide to take a stand and not let him into his country.the
‘It would be an absolute catastrophe but, clearly, Gary will never learn when it comes to his social media and what he posts on it.’
Lineker was in trouble with BBC chiefs in March 2023, and was briefly suspended, for comparing the UK government’s asylum policy to 1930s Germany.
Lineker’s anti-Trump posts may bar him from World Cup. Giovanni Infantino presenting the US President with the Fifa peace prize
In December, Lineker (pictured with Micah Richards and Alan Shearer), who has made no secret of his Leftie views on social media, signed what has been described to me as ‘an extremely lucrative’ deal with Netflix for his The Rest Is Football podcast
Despite BBC executives tightening up rules governing stars’ social media usage, another controversial post led to his departure.
In May last year he was sacked for sharing a social media post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat – long considered an anti-Semitic trope – for which he ‘unreservedly’ apologised.
But Lineker’s US visa is perhaps the least of Netflix’s worries. It is trying to acquire American entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery, and network chiefs fear that Lineker openly slating Trump could affect the sale – particularly as the President is expected to adjudicate the deal.
The source says: ‘Gary is going for Trump and his government, which Netflix know full well could then be perceived as Gary attacking the wider country and this could have a big impact.
If Trump gets involved in the transaction, there could be problems. Gary and his Instagram have become a very frustrating situation for Netflix.’
Lineker has also ruffled feathers inside his own company, Goalhanger Podcasts, where some members of the team have accused him of ‘cynically exploiting’ his fellow former England footballer David Beckham amid his family crisis.
The day after David’s son Brooklyn took aim at his estranged parents on Instagram last month, an ‘emergency episode’ of The Rest Is Entertainment was recorded about the 26-year-old’s incendiary claims.
Lineker’s wasn’t the only media organisation to do so (here at the Mail we made a special episode for our Deep Dive podcast, while the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all made documentaries).
But my insider says staff at Goalhanger believe it was ‘hypocritical’ of Lineker given his fury last year when he was photographed with his daughter-in-law on holiday in Mexico.
‘He heavily criticised the media for publishing the picture of him and his daughter-in-law, yet he was happy to go ahead with the Beckhams show,’ says my snitch at the firm’s South London headquarters.
‘At least two members of staff at Goalhanger expressed deep concern that it appeared like they were cashing in on the Beckham family feud, only for this reluctance to fall on deaf ears and Gary went ahead, anyway.
‘He is so critical of certain strands of the Press, yet he got stuck in immediately to join the Beckham wave.
Gary wants his privacy, but in this case didn’t afford the same courtesy to David, Victoria and the rest of their family.’
One member of his team refused to take part, however – the show’s co-host Richard Osman. My sources say that Osman was so ‘uncomfortable’ about making
it that he left it to his co-host, Marina Hyde, who presented the ‘emergency episode’ alone. While Osman did discuss the Brooklyn saga in a subsequent episode, he was at pains to declare that he did not care about the feud.
‘Richard put his money where his mouth was,’ noted the insider. ‘Maybe Gary could pick up a few tips from him.’
