BBC crisis escalates as players, stars rally behind former England captain great Gary Lineker

The BBC faced an escalating crisis Saturday over its suspension of former soccer star and programme host Gary Lineker for comments criticizing the British government's new asylum policy.

As a growing number of players and presenters rallied to Lineker’s support, Britain’s national broadcaster faced allegations of political bias and suppressing free speech, as well as praise from some Conservative politicians.

Presenters of the BBC's lunchtime “Football Focus” said they would not appear on the programme in solidarity with Lineker, who was suspended from hosting highlights show “Match of the Day” over a Twitter post that compared lawmakers’ language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.

The BBC pulled “Football Focus” from its schedule on Saturday, replacing it with an episode of antiques show “Bargain Hunt.”

After a slew of Lineker’s colleagues announced they wouldn’t appear on the show without him, the BBC said “Match of the Day” would be aired Saturday without presenters or pundits.

There will not be any post-match player interviews, either. The Professional Footballers’ Association said some players wanted to boycott the show as a gesture of support, and as a result “players involved in today’s games will not be asked to participate in interviews with ‘Match of The Day.’”

The union said it was a “common sense solution” to avoid players facing sanctions for breaching their broadcast commitments.

Play-by-play commentators scheduled to work games on Saturday also said they would not do so.

“Match of the Day,” which is broadcast on Saturday nights and shows highlights of Premier League games played that day, has been a national institution since the 1960s. Lineker, its chief presenter since 1999, is the network’s highest-paid star, as well as one of English soccer's most lauded players.

Lineker, whose club career included spells with Barcelona, Tottenham, Everton and Leicester, was the leading scorer at the 1986 World Cup and finished his international career with 48 goals in 80 matches for England.

The controversy began with a tweet on Tuesday from Lineker’s account — which has 8.7 million followers — describing the government’s plan to detain and deport migrants arriving by boat as “an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.”