Gary Lineker says he will stop sharing his opinions as he takes swipe at Elon Musk
Gary Lineker said he doesn't use X much now thanks to Elon Musk
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Gary Lineker has vowed to stop sharing his opinions on X due to Elon Musk's take-over of the social media site.
The Match of the Day presenter, 63, has come under fire for his use of social media to air his political views while he works for the BBC.
Billionaire Musk was branded "an odd bloke" by Lineker, who said he will stop sharing his opinions on the platform because it has become "very unpleasant now".
"I don't really post my thoughts now because I think it has become not a very pleasurable experience," he explained.
Speaking to The Independent, he continued: "There was a time you could have little chats with people on there and a bit of banter but now it is impossible because before I could have chats with people I either followed or were blue-tick people but now everyone’s got a blue tick so that doesn't work anymore.
"I have become a bit bored with it. It is a very unpleasant world there and Musk is clearly a very odd bloke."
Musk won his takeover battle for X, previously Twitter, in 2022
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Lineker was suspended from Match of Day last year following his remarks on X about the Government's immigration policy.
In March 2023, the former footballer criticised the the Conservative's policies and was removed from the broadcaster. However, the fallout saw several other famous faces from the company to step down in support of the sports broadcaster.
Lineker had compared the Government's policies to those of 1930s Germany, spurring a huge response and a debate about whether sports pundits working for corporations should be able to freely comment about political events.
Speaking earlier this year though, Lineker enthused that the BBC still hold him in high regard as he reflected on his social media use.
Gary Lineker said he doesn't use X much now thanks to Elon Musk
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“The BBC love me on there [social media] because I promote their shows,” he stated at a Broadcasting Press Guild event before going on to describe last year’s controversy as a “lover’s tiff”.
He continued: “I think it was a little bit unfortunate but we are fine again now. I’ve worked for the BBC for 30 years and we had one little fallout."
“I know the guidelines really, really well. I was partly involved in drawing them up with John [Hardie],” he added.
Once the guidelines were published, Lineker had taken to social media to brand them as “very sensible”.
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Gary Lineker came under fire with the BBC for tweeting about politics
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His admission that he would scale back his use of X comes after previously criticising Musk for making the social media site “increasingly toxic” following the billionare's acquisition.
Lineker went on to add the site had “always been a bit of a cesspit but it’s just become increasingly toxic".
He added: “You can’t have a nuanced conversation on there any more so I’ve stepped away from that side of things.”
Musk won his takeover battle for X, previously Twitter, in 2022 and promised to make the social media site "better than ever".