Fight promoter Frank Warren has ripped into Gary Lineker for ‘preaching’ and being ‘ill-informed’ over his comments comparing the tone of government rhetoric on immigration to 1930s Germany.
During an interview this week with the online boxing channel iFL TV, Warren said: “I have never heard such a disgusting comparison, as to the British government and [Gary’s] analogy that it’s similar to Germany in the 1930s – which is Nazi Germany.
“How on Earth can you compare us as a nation to them, Gary Lineker? How can you compare us? It’s disgraceful and demeaning.
“He’s entitled to his views, but they’re ill-informed views, it was an ill-informed comparison.”
The £1.35 million a year BBC star was criticised last week by various public figures and across the political spectrum for a tweet in which he described the language used around the UK’s treatment of asylum-seekers crossing the channel as “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s.”
Warren slammed Lineker for not “criticising the traffickers", "the people who are trafficking these people – who are making millions and millions out of poor people,”
The Queensberry Promotions founder also called out Lineker on accepting the presenting gig in Qatar for the World Cup despite allegations of human rights’ abuses in the country.
“This is the guy who went out to Qatar… where they had all the highly publicised human rights abuses.
“He took the money for the world cup and went out there and presented. So please, we don’t need you to preach to us the public.”
Qatar’s record on human rights made international headlines in the lead-up to last year’s World Cup over reports that the country had used thousands of migrants, primarily from Asia and Africa, to build the stadia, airports, and hotels in poor working conditions.
The Gulf nation was also condemned for its criminalisation of homosexuality and its treatment of women.
“Get your facts right. We’re not Nazi Germany, we’re Britain,” Warren said, “And in Britain we are good people, and in Britain whether you like it or not the refugees – the illegal refugees that are here – are being looked after. They’re not being gassed, they’re not being worked to death. F*** him.”
Although termporarily suspended from Match of the Day presenting duties over the controversial tweet, Lineker is in talks with the BBC to return to the programme, which he has hosted for 25 years.
