Piers Morgan has claimed Gary Lineker and Jeremy Clarkson are both victims of a 'witch hunt'.
The former Good Morning Britain presenter, 57, says his pal Lineker and foe Clarkson have both been cancelled by a mob of people opposing free speech, and claimed many of Lineker's supporters were quick to slam Clarkson regarding his vile rant about Meghan Markle.
Morgan has been vocally supporting Lineker this week, following the Match of the Day presenter's ongoing row with BBC bosses regarding one of the star's tweets on his personal Twitter page.
Speaking on his TalkTV show this evening, Morgan continued to defend his long-time pal and claimed he knows '100% as a fact' that Lineker is not in breach of his BBC contract and is perfectly entitled to share his personal political opinions online.
Comparing Lineker and Clarkson live on-air this evening, Morgan began saying: "One is a woke warrior, the other is a culture warrior who mainly talks about cars. One of them invites me to dinner while the other punches me in the face.
"Clarkson and Lineker could hardly be more different but what unites them is they have both been victims of witch-hunts over recent months."
He continued to recall how "Clarkson made a crass ham-fisted joke about Meghan" and his career suffered as a result, and predicted many want to see Lineker dealt a similar fate.
"Many of the anti-Clarkson lot are the very same people who are now defending Lineker," Morgan continued.
"In this side of two halves, both sides are wrong."
Writing in his latest column this evening, Morgan revealed he spoke with Lineker this morning who told his pal he is doing 'absolutely fine' amid the saga.
Former England striker Lineker described the government's new Migration Bill as "beyond awful" after it was unveiled by home secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday - later adding: "This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."
The BBC, who say they are supposed to remain impartial on political matters, are set to hold talks with Gary over his social media "responsibilities".
"Lineker’s not a guy to bow down to a howling mob," Morgan writes in The Sun.
Although he defends Lineker's right to tweet his own personal opinions on Twitter, Morgan added he doesn't actually agree with Lineker's analogy.
He says: "There is no sensible comparison to be made between Hitler and the Nazis and this current Conservative government, and to infer there is one is both wrong and offensive, not least to Jewish people who have reacted with understandable anger.
"But he was factually correct to say Britain takes in fewer asylum-seeking refugees than other major European countries like Germany, France, Italy, or Spain."
He added how Lineker is "not part of the BBC News division, and he’s not even a BBC staff employee" and there is nothing in his contract prohibiting him from tweeting about the news.
Morgan writes: "The BBC’s new chairman Richard Sharp donated £400,000 to the Conservative party and was recently revealed to have helped facilitate an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson shortly before Johnson appointed him as BBC chairman.
"Is THAT what the BBC considers impartiality?
"This whole Lineker debate is riddled with hypocrisy."
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