Gary Lineker calls out Elon Musk as his son receives death threats on Twitter over BBC Match of the Day fiasco

Gary Lineker has put out a desperate plea to Twitter billionaire owner Elon Musk after his son, George Lineker, received death threats and vile comments on social media. It follows the former Barcelona footballer’s BBC saga which saw him suspended from Match of the Day.

The presenter posted on Twitter on Tuesday morning, mentioning Elon Musk and asking: “Is this acceptable @Twitter @elonmusk? And I don’t mean the grammar”. It featured a screenshot of George’s social media account, pointing out a death threat he had received.

George Lineker tweeted: “Social media’s mad isn’t it. Over the last few days on Insta [Instagram] - never had so many nice messages. On Twitter - never had so much abuse - it’s not even anything to do with me.”

George then showcased a vile message he had received from a Twitter user, which said: “Your a mug how dare you stick up for what your s***house of a dad said you need to be burned at the stake.”

It comes following news that Gary Lineker had his Match of the Day suspension lifted after an impartiality row over a tweet the former footballer made criticising government policy. The 62-year-old’s contentious tweet said: “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, and I’m out of order?”

BBC later gave Lineker a leave of absence, which led to a number of pundits including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright walking out from the flagship Premier League highlights show. The programme continued last weekend but only aired for 20 minutes with no commentary, punditry or analysis.