Greedy and virtue-signalling Gary Lineker needs to take a pay cut at the BBC
IT would be impossible to find a celebrity in this country more virtue-signalling, preachy and, let’s be honest, downright hypocritical than Gary Lineker.
The overpaid Match Of The Day presenter, rumoured to be worth more than £30million, showed the true cut of his jib this week.
As a raft of other high-profile male presenters at the BBC agreed to take massive pay cuts to address the gender pay gap, the corporation revealed in its annual report that self-proclaimed man-of-the- people Gaz hadn’t sacrificed a penny.
His £1.75million annual haul would be enough to fund 11,359 of the TV licences the Beeb has inexplicably decided to strip from the over-75s.
Notoriously under-worked compared with many of his high-paid colleagues, some of whom work long hours six-days-a-week, Lineker made just 67 appearances on the BBC to earn such a whopping fee.
That works out at £26,000 every time he was on the telly.
Such a sum is outlandish, extravagant and wasteful by the standards of anyone in the British entertainment industry, let alone a public service broadcaster paid for by us.
No one is questioning that Gary is a very adequate autocue reader – and I’m not for a second doubting that he is an easy-on-the-eye, knowledgeable, reasonably well-liked presenting talent.
But I will guarantee now that if Lineker is replaced on MOTD by someone on a far more reasonable salary, there will be no drop in viewers whatsoever.
This is not a show the public watch because of the host.
And, unlike other high-earners such as Graham Norton, its success does not rely on his personality. What’s even more outrageous is that Gary’s deal allows him to take millions of additional cash from BT Sport and a host of commercial partners.
If Lineker really wants the BBC gig, too, then he should agree to take a significant cut, just like his colleagues John Humphrys (down £159,000), Huw Edwards (down £30,000) and Jeremy Vine (down £150,000).
And if he refuses, the BBC should axe him and create another superstar presenter on Match Of The Day who could then move to the commercial sector in the future, too.
The most galling thing about Lineker pocketing the cash in light of the licence fee scandal is that the liberal luvvie chooses to berate the public on a regular basis via his Twitter page, often doubling as a news analyst, remoaner and Jeremy Corbyn defender.
But – surprise, surprise – this week on the biggest story of the day he remained conspicuously silent.
Instead, over the past seven days, he’s sounded off on the wrongs of the Brexit Party, backed far-Left American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and derided Tory leadership candidate Jeremy Hunt.
It’s time for Lineker to start practising what he oh-so painfully chooses to preach – otherwise it will be obvious his holier-than-thou tweets are as fake as his tan.
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CELINE DION kicked off the first night of Barclaycard presents British Summertime Hyde Park festival in spectacular style last night – and she was already spending her earnings before hitting the stage.
The music superstar, who was supported by Steps singer Claire Richards, was staying in the presidential suite at London’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which costs an eye-watering £10,000 a night.
And she was splashing the cash even further by getting more than 100 pairs of shoes delivered to the five-star hotel, having previously admitted all she likes to do is shop when she is in the capital.
I sat down with the extraordinary icon in January for a special edition of my podcast, which you can listen back to online now.
Speaking then about last night’s gig as it was announced, she said: “It’s going to be quite special, extraordinary.
“I’m kind of nervous a little bit – and excited.
“To be honest with you, I think I’m at the best of my life right now and I really want to enjoy and embrace every moment of it.
“It’s all new.
"It’s like I’m having a second wind – 50 has been great for me.”