How Gary Lineker shat on the BBC pay gap row without even realising

CLEARLY Gary Lineker is a talented person. He knows a lot about football, crisps and other rudimentary topics.
No, in all seriousness I am fan of the presenter and his coverage.
He’s one of the few big name celebs who use their gargantuan media status to try to make a difference.
But (oh yes)… the shat* hit the fan over a trivial tweet he posted yesterday about the BBC pay gap.
In the post, he joked how yesterday’s big salary reveal of all of the big names at the broadcaster was an “absolute outrage” — then comically joking how “can Chris Evans be on more than me?”.

Quite witty for someone who walked a camel around London for publicity.

Though, not a smart comment to make being clear evidence of how society is still failing in terms of gender pay gaps and economic distribution.
Okay Gary, you were just having a laugh over your earnings of £1.8m compared to Chris Evans’ £2.25m. You’re entitled to your freedom of expression.
You were even being ironic. I’m sure it would be funny joke between the celebrity elites.
You and that guy who puked while filming Top Gear for the first time I’m sure enjoyed the bants.
But please do not get offended, when journalists call you out for causing outrage and show you that people are annoyed.

gloat
ɡləʊt/
verbdwell on one’s own success or another’s misfortune with smugness or malignant pleasure.
Instead, consider it maybe was something you shouldn’t have tweeted to your 6million followers?
Yes, this has irritated me and what made it worse was that Gary’s Walkers Warriors seemed to agree with him and thought it was hilarious too.
Look, I get it is a joke and was not intentionally said to cause harm.
However, for all those neanderthals jumping on the “shit journalists don’t know what they’re talking about, Gary” bandwagon — think for yourself.
There is only one woman named in the top 10 of the BBC’s highest earners.
The gap in the UK has only closed from 28% in 1993 to 18% now. That’s 24 years.
According to the World Economic Forum, the gender pay gap won’t close until the year 2186.
In a broader perspective, The Sun found Chris Evans’ £2.2m would pay for 85 nurses or 76 firefighters or 76 teachers.
These are very serious issues.

Nevertheless this is largely not about the amount of money and more the attitude we have to money.
It is about being aware that social media is a very powerful tool — particularly for those with big followings such as celebrities, news organisations and brands.
As a newspaper, we are not the pinnacle of integrity — I’m full aware of that.
Though flippant comments and senseless statements on a platform that reaches out to millions of people can be much more damaging in the long run.
*Gary Lineker shat his pants on the pitch during an England match in the 1990 World Cup and now it’s a viral joke [in case you were waiting for that]
