The BBC has apologised for the changes to this weekend’s sporting schedule and said it is “working hard to resolve the situation and hopes to do so soon”.
The broadcaster’s radio and TV timetables have been left in disarray as a series of presenters pulled out of shows after Gary Lineker was told to step back from hosting Match of the Day in a row over impartiality.
A spokesperson said: “The BBC will only be able to bring limited sport programming this weekend and our schedules will be updated to reflect that.
“We are sorry for these changes which we recognise will be disappointing for BBC sport fans.
“We are working hard to resolve the situation and hope to do so soon.”
Match of the Day (MOTD) is due to air on Saturday night without a presenter or commentators and will last only 20 minutes after Ian Wright and Alan Shearer pulled out of the show.
Wright said his actions were in solidarity with Lineker and he later added he would quit the show “if they [the BBC] get rid of Lineker”.
MOTD would “focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry”, the BBC said.
On Saturday, BBC Radio 5 Live’s sport schedule was also disrupted.
TV and radio shows including Football Focus, Final Score and Fighting Talk were pulled.
Presenter Alex Scott said it did not “feel right” for her to go ahead with Football Focus. Jason Mohammed, presenter of Final Score, also said he would not appear on Saturday’s show.
Jermaine Defoe pulled out of Sunday’s Match of the Day 2 and commentator Dion Dublin said he would not be appearing on 5 Live as a mark of solidarity with his “BBC Sport colleagues”.
Glenn Murray pulled out of appearing on Football Focus and Final Score in Saturday.
Some football teams also decided to boycott the BBC. Bristol Rovers and Forest Green Rovers said they would not be talking to the BBC “before or after” Saturday’s games.
Other figures from beyond sport came out in support of Lineker following the row sparked by the presenter’s tweet criticising the government’s policy towards asylum seekers. The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said: “It is not impartial for BBC to cave in to Tory MPs complaining about Gary Lineker, it’s the opposite of impartial,” he said. “They got this one badly wrong and now they’re very, very exposed.”
Greg Dyke, a former BBC director general and ex-FA chairman, told Radio 4’s Today programme the BBC was “mistaken” over removing Lineker and had “undermined its own credibility”.
“The perception out there is that the BBC has bowed to government pressure. And once the BBC does that you’re in real problems,” he said.
He added that he thought this episode would mark “the end of Gary Lineker as a BBC presenter as we’ve known him”.
Broadcasting union Bectu has criticised the BBC’s handling of the impartiality row with Lineker.
Philippa Childs, head of Bectu, said: “Bectu has always been a staunch defender of the BBC, and we are hugely proud of the important work our members do every day. However, the corporation’s handling of this crisis has been hugely disappointing and will likely prove disastrous for its reputation.”
Roger Mosey, a former head of BBC TV News, said the Lineker row had highlighted how the BBC chairman, Richard Sharp, has damaged the corporation’s credibility and called for him to stand down.
In January, it was reported that, before being appointed to the role by former prime minister Boris Johnson, Sharp helped Johnson secure an £800,000 loan.
Mosey said: “Richard Sharp should go. He damages the BBC’s credibility. Ideally, Lineker should stay within clear, agreed guidelines.”
The row began when Lineker reacted on Twitter to the government’s controversial plans to ban people arriving in the UK illegally from ever claiming asylum.
In a tweet, he called the plan an “immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.
This comparison was criticised by some MPs, including the home secretary, Suella Braverman, who called it “lazy and unhelpful”.
Lee Anderson, the Conservative party vice-chairman, echoed Braverman adding that it was “vile”.
Lineker did not respond to questions from reporters earlier on Saturday as he left his London house bound for Leicester to see his old side play against Chelsea.
When asked by BBC News why Lineker had not been sacked, the BBC director general, Tim Davie, replied: “Well I think we always look to take proportionate action and that’s what we’ve done.”
He added: “As editor-in-chief of the BBC I think one of our founding principles is impartiality and that’s what we’re delivering on.”
