STORY: Sharp criticism of the British broadcaster BBC. The broadcaster suspended Lineker because the world-famous British ex-soccer player and sports presenter Gary Lineker criticized the British government’s asylum policy. This was followed by a wave of solidarity with the 62-year-old ex-national player. The BBC had to cut much of its sports coverage after several presenters skipped the show in solidarity with Lineker. Lineker had criticized British asylum policy in a tweet. He compared the conservative government’s choice of words about refugees with Nazi rhetoric from the 1930s. The British government had previously presented a bill that would deny people who had entered Germany irregularly the right to seek asylum. Lineker refused to apologize for the tweet. And was therefore temporarily suspended. The BBC has been under pressure from Brexit supporters and right-wing populists in the conservative Tory party for years. Some media pundits see the Tories’ ongoing criticism of the BBC as an attempt to break the independence of public service broadcasting. BBC Director-General Tim Davie has declined to resign and said work is being done to clarify the current situation.