Gary Lineker’s departure at the BBC for an antisemitic post has stirred much debate and hot takes in the UK, but none have it more nailed on than this opinion piece by British PR doyen and industry commentator Mark Borkowski, who outlines public relations lessons from the fiasco.
And so, it ends. The reign of the Prince of Match of the Day is over, not with scandal or disgrace, but with something far more British: moral fatigue.
Gary Lineker’s journey from national treasure to divisive conscientious objector is a parable of our times, where virtue, fame, and the cultish contradictions of the BBC collide.
Once the nation’s most palatable voice, he’s become a lightning rod for a culture that mistrusts saints as much as it crucifies sinners.
His career was forged by the BBC, making him not just a presenter but public property; a salaried embodiment of Middle England values. When he speaks, he does so not as a free man, but as “our man.” Paid by the people, now preaching to them. That’s not just dissent, it’s brand confusion.
His problem isn’t just politics. It’s positioning. You can’t play conscience while cashing the BBC’s cheque. The Corporation prefers conviction with the consistency of vanilla tapioca. Twitter wants outrage, not neutrality. And so Lineker wobbled, caught between two worlds: vapid banter and voracious values.
Then came the trap all celebrities face: the delusion that influence inoculates them from public shaming. That followers mean immunity. But the inverse is true; platform means exposure: the crowd giveth, and the crowd taketh away.
Fame, that fickle carousel, doesn’t reward consistency, it craves reinvention. Britain builds them up, tears them down, and tires of the moralist martyr and the megalomaniac in equal measure. The moment someone’s cast as a saint, we start rooting for the devil in the detail.
And here’s the PR truth: goodness only sells in small doses. Push it too far and it curdles into virtue-signalling, into brand overreach.
That’s when the social media sharks start sniffing for even a single drop of hypocrisy in the water.
Lineker became a hostage to his own image. It’s the classic double bind for any public figure juggling celebrity and civic virtue. They assume moral clarity grants narrative immunity. It doesn’t. Especially when the preacher is a millionaire with a media platform and no visible hardship. The principled become polarising.
So yes, even those with good intentions are fair game. Especially now, when the same algorithm chews up the sanctimonious and the sensational.
The real lesson? Never confuse moral clarity with narrative safety. Especially when the nation thinks it’s footing the bill.
What does this teach us? That in the modern media circus, no one is allowed to stay virtuous for too long. Public goodwill is a depleting resource, especially for those with a platform and a conscience. For PRs, the takeaway is brutal but clear: never let a client believe their moral message is bulletproof. Every saint becomes a slogan. Every slogan invites backlash.
The trick is knowing when to speak, and knowing when to step back before the applause curdles into eyerolls. Lineker didn’t fall, he lingered too long at the pulpit.
Mark Borkowski is an acclaimed PR specialist, writer, media industry commentator and a leading figures in the British communications industry. He is the founder and agency head of Borkowski. You can follow Mark on LinkedIn.
