Good Morning Britain fans have taken to social media to praise Gary Lineker after he appeared on Tuesday's episode of the daytime programme.
The Match of the Day host joined Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley as he promoted a new series of his ITV gameshow Sitting on a Fortune. But while he discussed the programme, GMB presenter Richard was keen to talk about something else entirely.
It comes after former Everton forward Gary was suspended from MOTD following a tweet in which he criticised some of the language used by the UK government when describing vulnerable people who seek to claim asylum in this country.
READ MORE: BBC Breakfast halted as 'protestor' appears live on air
A number of his colleagues boycotted the programme in solidarity, and Gary's suspension was lifted shortly afterwards. Some two months later, GMB's Richard told Gary he had been defending him, but then stated he had "compared the Government to Nazis".
Gary quickly hit back and explained he had done no such thing. He said: "This is where the furor has come from, newspaper headlines. What I did was I said some of the language used was not dissimilar to that of 30s Germany." He added there was a "substantial difference" between when he actually said and what Richard was suggesting he said.
Eager to move on, Gary added that it was "water under the bridge", but Richard asked if they could "paddle in it a bit longer" before asking his guest to explicitly state what the Government had said to prompt his tweet.
Gary said words like "swarm" and "invasion" were reminiscent of 30s Germany, and that we need to get away from that kind of rhetoric.
Fans at home were impressed with how Gary handled the situation. Taking to Twitter, Charlotte said: "Gary Lineker schooling Richard Madeley is exactly what I needed this morning".
Natalie said: "Gary Lineker handled himself well there" and @FoodFunForest said: "Lineker is a king".
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV and ITVX
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