Good Morning Britain (GMB) viewers have demanded that ITV "get rid" of Richard Madeley after the broadcaster clashed with Gary Lineker. Madeley and co-host Susanna Reid welcomed Lineker to the show this morning (May 23) via video link as the sports personality promoted his ITV quiz show, Sitting on a Fortune, which is set to return for a second series.
Lineker's appearance on GMB comes a few months after he was temporarily suspended by the BBC for speaking out against the government's controversial Illegal Migration Bill. The Match of the Day presenter, 62, is set to receive an award for his activism from Amnesty International in Rome tomorrow (May 24) after saying the language used by the British government to describe migrants was "not dissimilar" to that used in Germany in the 1930s.
After discussing his quiz show's latest series with Madeley and Reid, Lineker was swiftly pressed by the former on his impartiality row with the BBC. Madeley claimed that, during an appearance on Question Time back in March, he defended Lineker's actions, although he did not agree with the language used by Lineker in his tweets.
"You're not on Panorama, as it used to be, or Newsnight," Madeley said. "I couldn't see any problem with a sports presenter having his own private Twitter account and saying pretty much what he likes, within the law.
"But what I did do is I disagreed with what you actually said, which was, essentially, to compare the British government today to the Nazi dictatorship in the early 1930s as you spoke about Britain's immigration policy. Looking back, we all say things that we change our minds about, do you think that was a fair comparison?"
Hitting back, Lineker replied: "Well, already you've misrepresented what I said, and that's what happened because of the Daily Mail headline which caused this furore in the first place, that's the [comparison] of the government to the Nazis. I didn't talk about the Holocaust, I didn't do any of that, all I said was some of the language is not dissimilar to that used back in the 1930s in Germany, and there is a substantial difference in that."
As Lineker claimed that the row was "all water under the bridge" as he said that stories at the time were "very disproportionate", Madeley retorted: "Well, it got you taken off air... What was similar about the way that the Nazis spoke about race and immigration and the way that the British government talk about race and immigration? What are the similarities that you allege?"
"Again, you're using the term 'Nazis' and trying to connect with..." Lineker claimed, as Madeley abruptly cut him off.
"Sorry!" Madeley hit out. "Gary! If you talk about the German government in the early 1930s... you may not use the word Nazi, I actually said that on your behalf on Question Time, but it was a Nazi government. You can’t pretend it wasn't - it was."
Elsewhere in the interview, Lineker accused Madeley of "trying to take things out of proportion", as he explained that he felt the "silly story" was "blown up because I was misrepresented". Following the heated debate between Madeley and Lineker, GMB viewers requested that ITV "gets rid of" Madeley.
Shirley Anne Smith tweeted: "His interview with Gary Lineker was repugnant! Why is he still there trying to be clever and controversial - get rid of him!"
"Madeley making himself look an absolute whopper here as usual," wrote FoodFunForest. "Lineker is a king."
Sam MacNamara said: "Watching @GaryLineker on @GMB right now … how is Richard madeley still on the tv? he’s misrepresenting the words in his tweet just like the daily mail - Lineker is dealing with this with class!"
"Gary Lineker schooling Richard Madeley is exactly what I needed this morning #GMB," Charlotte tweeted.
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