{"id":261985,"date":"2026-02-01T04:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/261985\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T04:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:37:09","slug":"it-would-be-disastrous-and-so-embarrassing-why-gary-lineker-could-be-banned-from-the-us-as-insiders-tell-katie-hind-why-netflix-bosses-are-deeply-concerned-by-his-behaviour-and-reveal-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/261985\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It would be disastrous and so embarrassing’: Why Gary Lineker could be banned from the US… as insiders tell KATIE HIND why Netflix bosses are ‘deeply concerned’ by his behaviour – and reveal star’s new Beckham ‘hypocrisy’ row"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Gary Lineker<\/a> was sacked by the BBC<\/a> last year, he nevertheless left with a smirk.<\/p>\n

As the host of the broadcaster\u2019s flagship sports show Match Of The Day for 25 years, and the owner of some of the most successful podcasts in Britain, he perhaps knew it wouldn\u2019t be long until another broadcaster snapped him up. And he was right.<\/p>\n

In December, Lineker, 65, who has made no secret of his Leftie views on social media, signed what has been described to me as \u2018an extremely lucrative\u2019 deal with Netflix<\/a> for his The Rest Is Football podcast. The big plan is, I\u2019m told, that the former England striker will host it from this summer\u2019s World Cup in the US.<\/p>\n

For a star who loves hosting the \u2018big events\u2019 it is quite the dream ticket, his friends say.<\/p>\n

Only, it may not be as straight\u00adforward as he might have imagined.<\/p>\n

There is \u2018deep concern\u2019, I hear, among his new bosses at the streaming giant over his social media posts, which include various no-holds-barred \u00adcritiques of US President Donald Trump<\/a>. And such views could prevent the broadcaster from getting a visa to enter the country at all.<\/p>\n

Proposals by the US Customs and Border Protection, published in December, could require anyone planning to enter the US from the UK to provide their social media posts from the past five years.<\/p>\n

There have already been reports of visas being revoked for tourists at the border after \u2018anti-Trump\u2019 memes were found on their phones, and commentators suggest anyone expressing \u2018anti-American views\u2019 online could be barred from entry.<\/p>\n

\"There <\/p>\n

There is \u2018deep concern\u2019 among Gary Lineker\u2019s new bosses at the streaming giant over his social media posts\u00a0<\/p>\n

The US government\u2019s website says its \u00adproposed policies aim \u2018to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests\u2019.<\/p>\n

But if father-of-four Lineker is aware of the proposed updates, he appears undeterred.<\/p>\n

As recently as last Sunday he unleashed another criticism of Trump to his 1.4 million Instagram followers, labelling the US President\u2019s newly established Board of Peace \u2013 a body tasked with overseeing the Gaza peace plan, and promoting peacekeeping around the world \u2013 \u2018unashamedly vain\u2019 and \u2018absurd\u2019. He also re-posted a satirical video by the political campaign group Led By Donkeys lambasting the Board. Netflix bosses are aware of others.<\/p>\n

But while many in the streaming giant\u2019s upper echelons are sympathetic to Lineker\u2019s views, they are also acutely aware that their lead \u00adtalent expressing them so publicly could have an impact on the success of their money-spinning project, which is due to start in June.<\/p>\n

A Netflix source tells me: \u2018The proposed Gary Lineker World Cup show this year is due to come from New York but real fears have been expressed internally by Netflix\u2019s legal team that Gary may not have a US visa granted, or be allowed into the country.<\/p>\n

\u2018This would be disastrous and very, very costly, not to mention deeply embarrassing for Netflix. Imagine if Trump decides to go for Gary \u2013 he\u2019s super Left-wing, so the polar opposite to him. Let\u2019s see. Maybe the President will decide to take a stand and not let him into his country.the<\/p>\n

\"Lineker\u2019s <\/p>\n

Lineker\u2019s anti-Trump posts may bar him from World Cup. Giovanni Infantino presenting the US President with the Fifa peace prize<\/p>\n

\u2018It would be an absolute catastrophe but, clearly, Gary will never learn when it comes to his social media and what he posts on it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lineker was in trouble with BBC chiefs in March 2023, and was briefly suspended, for comparing the UK government\u2019s asylum \u00adpolicy to 1930s Germany.<\/p>\n

Despite BBC executives tightening up rules governing stars\u2019 social media usage, another controversial post led to his departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In May last year he was sacked for sharing a social media post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat \u2013 long \u00adconsidered an anti-Semitic trope \u2013 for which he \u2018unreservedly\u2019 \u00adapologised.<\/p>\n

But Lineker\u2019s US visa is perhaps the least of Netflix\u2019s worries. It is trying to acquire American entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery, and network chiefs fear that Lineker openly slating Trump could affect the sale \u2013 particularly as the President is expected to adjudicate the deal.<\/p>\n

The source says: \u2018Gary is going for Trump and his government, which Netflix know full well could then be perceived as Gary attacking the wider country and this could have a big impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Trump gets involved in the transaction, there could be problems. Gary and his Instagram have become a very frustrating situation for Netflix.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lineker has also ruffled feathers inside his own company, Goalhanger Podcasts, where some members of the team have accused him of \u2018cynically exploiting\u2019 his fellow former England footballer David Beckham amid his family crisis.<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In December, Lineker (pictured with Micah Richards and Alan Shearer), who has made no secret of his Leftie views on social media, signed what has been described to me as \u2018an extremely lucrative\u2019 deal with Netflix for his The Rest Is Football podcast<\/p>\n

The day after David\u2019s son Brooklyn took aim at his estranged parents on Instagram last month, an \u2018emergency episode\u2019 of The Rest Is Entertainment was recorded about the 26-year-old\u2019s incendiary claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lineker\u2019s wasn\u2019t the only media organisation to do so (here at the Mail we made a special episode for our Deep Dive podcast, while the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all made documentaries).<\/p>\n

But my insider says staff at Goalhanger believe it was \u2018hypocritical\u2019 of Lineker given his fury last year when he was photographed with his daughter-in-law on holiday in Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018He heavily criticised the media for publishing the picture of him and his daughter-in-law, yet he was happy to go ahead with the Beckhams show,\u2019 says my snitch at the firm\u2019s South London headquarters.<\/p>\n

\u2018At least two members of staff at Goalhanger expressed deep concern that it appeared like they were cashing in on the Beckham family feud, only for this reluctance to fall on deaf ears and Gary went ahead, anyway.<\/p>\n

\u2018He is so critical of certain strands of the Press, yet he got stuck in immediately to join the Beckham wave.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gary wants his privacy, but in this case didn\u2019t afford the\u00a0same courtesy to David, Victoria and the rest of their family.\u2019<\/p>\n

One member of his team refused to take part, however \u2013 the show\u2019s co-host Richard Osman. My sources say that Osman was so \u2018uncomfortable\u2019 about making<\/p>\n

it that he left it to his co-host, Marina Hyde, who presented the \u00ad\u2018emergency episode\u2019 alone. While Osman did discuss the Brooklyn saga in a subsequent episode, he was at pains to declare that he did not care about the feud.<\/p>\n

\u2018Richard put his money where his mouth was,\u2019 noted the insider. \u2018Maybe Gary could pick up a few tips from him.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Gary Lineker was sacked by the BBC last year, he nevertheless left with a smirk. As the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2974,557,1634,18045,1094,111,139,69,213,1766],"class_list":["post-261985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bbc","tag-dailymail","tag-england","tag-gary-lineker","tag-netflix","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-tvshowbiz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}