Mark Lawrenson slams 'woke' BBC and doubles down on reasons for Match of the Day axe – The Mirror
Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson appeared regularly on Match of the Day and Football Focus for over 20 years, but has been vocal about the circumstances around his exit
Former Match of the Day pundit Mark Lawrenson doubled down on his previous comments about the "woke" BBC being afraid to cause offence.
Back in 2022, former Liverpool star Lawrenson was quizzed on the motives behind his departure from the corporation's sports coverage. “Well, I’m 65 and a white male, so you know…" was his response.
Lawrenson's final appearance on Football Focus came at the end of the 2021-22 season, recording his last episode ahead of Liverpool's victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup final. He had been involved with the Saturday lunchtime show for 25 years, with his first appearance on Match of the Day coming even earlier.
Shortly after departing, he hit out at the manner of his exit. Now, nearly two years on from his final outing with the Beeb, the 66-year-old has once again hit out at the national broadcaster.
"I wasn't happy with the way they dealt with me, basically," Lawrenson told The Ben Heath Podcast. "I'd been there nearly 25 years, great, but I was just signing one-year contracts, season to season.
He said the manner of the conversation around his exit "really p***ed me off," despite admitting he "kind of knew" what was in store. "Basically I was 65 and white," he added.
"There's a few of us," he added, referring by name to Steve Wright, Ken Bruce and Sue Barker. Podcast host Heath then asked if Lawrenson believed the BBC has 'gone woke', to which he replied: " Gone woke? It's top of the woke league".
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"They're frightened to death, absolutely, totally frightened to death," he continued, making reference to the BBC's behaviour around Gary Lineker's brief suspension in 2023. Lineker was taken off an episode of Match of the day over social media activity which the broadcaster referred to as a breach of guidelines.
"You've seen the stuff with Gary Lineker," Lawrenson added. "I think day by day the integrity of the corporation gets chipped off. It used to be absolutely fantastic, but they are woke plus 100 percent."
Heath then pressed Lawrenson on the comments about the BBC being frightened to death. "They say to everyone 'you can't say this, you can't do that'… it's somebody's opinion, and the thing with Gary Lineker was he works for himself so he's entitled to his own opinion, and rightly or wrongly he's got an opinion about everything..
"You used to go on the programme and you had to get your headset in your ears and they'd be talking to you from the gallery, and somebody would ask a question and you'd want to jump in and they'd go 'No, don't say anything'. That got to me a bit in the end,"
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