Gary Lineker says he doesn’t understand why ‘woke’ is an insult

Sports pundit and TV presenter questioned why people take such an issue with those who ‘have some kind of social conscience’

Gary Lineker has said that he struggles to comprehend why “woke” is used in a negative way, after mocking his inclusion on a “woke list” by a Sunday newspaper.

The former footballer, sports pundit and TV presenter found himself at the centre of a BBC scandal in March, after he criticised the government’s policy on asylum-seekers from his Twitter account.

Lineker, 62, was briefly told to step back from his presenting role on Match of the Day, prompting a boycott in solidarity by his BBC colleagues. He was swiftly reinstated, and later called the furore “disproportionate”.

Last weekend, the Mail on Sunday included Lineker on its “Woke List”, ostensibly comprising celebrities who “are most high-profile in their awakedness to perceived injustices in society – but who have also been accused of having an exaggerated fixation with such issues”.

Other celebrities on the list included Emma Watson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Dame Allison Rose, who was forced to resign as NatWest chief over the Nigel Farage row.

In an interview with The Telegraph published on Friday 4 August, Lineker said you “have to laugh” in response to the list, suggesting its purpose was “to try to get people to dislike you”.

“I would ask you, what is ‘woke’? Is it a bad thing? Is it just referring to people who have some kind of social conscience?” he continued.

“I don’t necessarily find being called woke an insult. So, it’s a strange one. But if you keep putting it out there that ‘woke is bad, woke is bad’, people will eventually believe that it is, whatever ‘woke’ may be.”

Gary Lineker says he received a ‘standing ovation’ in Marks & Spencer following his BBC suspension (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

When it was suggested that “woke” was used to people trying to bolster their public image by aligning themselves with “fashionably worthy credentials”, Lineker pointed out that this often resulted in abuse, “so I think it means the opposite to that”.

“You’ve got to be fairly secure in yourself to stand up for people at the moment, because you know that you’re going to be accused of wokery,” he said. “Or whatever it was before: virtue-signalling? It’s the same argument. It’s saying, ‘Do-gooders, they’re no good either.’”

He concluded: “It just doesn’t make any sense to me. I’ve never fully understood it. And I never feel insulted by it – because I think it’s a compliment.”

Lineker’s remarks echo those made by his fellow BBC star Graham Norton last year, where he suggested that so-called “cancel culture”, where someone is “cancelled” due to their perceived problematic behaviour, should in fact be called “accountability culture”.

In the same interview, Lineker claimed he received a “standing ovation” in M&S over the BBC row.