BBC receives complaint over Gary Lineker’s ‘bald jokes’

Gary Lineker has revealed that the BBC received a complaint about “bald jokes” made on Match of the Day.

An offending quip appeared to be a comment made by Lineker about a “hair-raising” start to the Premier League season – “unless of course you’re Alan Shearer or Danny Murphy”.

A clip of the moment, posted on the BBC Sport Twitter account, shows Lineker’s co-hosts Shearer and Murphy looking at each other and smiling, while Shearer shakes his head.

Twitter users are invited to “like, comment, share” at the end of the clip which has been watched more than 100,000 times.

Lineker, who is the corporation’s top earner with an annual salary of between £1,750,000 and £1,754,999, appeared to poke fun at the complaint on his own Twitter account.

He wrote: “The BBC has received a complaint about bald jokes on @BBCMOTD (genuinely). Very unfair I feel to call @alanshearer @IanWright0 & Danny Murphy jokes.”

Lineker’s “hair-raising” comment is not the first time he has joked about baldness with his co-host Shearer.

In 2016, he replied to a photograph of himself next to Shearer by writing: “Jeez, my bald spot is nearly as large as yours.”