David Baddiel slaps down Gary Lineker over Nazi jibe tweet: Comedian and author says he told Match of the Day star he was wrong to compare Suella Braverman's migrant policy to 1930s Germany

  • He said overusing Nazi references could amount to 'soft-core Holocaust denial' 
  • Lineker started impartiality row after tweeting policy was 'immeasurably cruel' 

By MIRIAM KUEPPER

Published: | Updated:

David Baddiel has slapped down Gary Lineker over his controversial tweet comparing Suella Braverman to the Nazis.

The comedian and author claimed that overusing Nazi references could amount to 'soft-core Holocaust denial'. 

Lineker sparked a furore and fresh BBC impartiality row after he tweeted saying Home Secretary Suella Braverman's migrant crackdown was 'immeasurably cruel' and used 'language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s'. 

Baddiel said he wrote to the Match of the Day star to share his dislike about the 'inaccurate' comparison.

On the Rest is Politics podcast, Baddiel said one reason the comparison wouldn't hold up would be due to the Nazis putting policies in place against their own Jewish citizens rather than migrants.

David Baddiel (pictured) said overusing Nazi references could amount to 'soft-core Holocaust denial'

David Baddiel (pictured) said overusing Nazi references could amount to 'soft-core Holocaust denial'

Lineker sparked a furore and fresh BBC impartiality row after he tweeted saying Home Secretary Suella Braverman's migrant crackdown was 'immeasurably cruel' and used 'language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s'

Lineker sparked a furore and fresh BBC impartiality row after he tweeted saying Home Secretary Suella Braverman's migrant crackdown was 'immeasurably cruel' and used 'language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s' 

He said: 'The Nazis turned their hate, extreme hate… on their own citizens. My grandfather had roots in Germany going back to the 19th century. They were Germans. They were not immigrants.

'So what would be equivalent is Suella Braverman saying to me, or any other minority group, living in Britain, 'you are vermin, you need to go, you can't marry a British citizen, you can't work'. She didn't do that.

'I'm not denying that she's othering the immigrants. She is othering.' 

He added about the comments made by former England player Mr Lineker: 'There's a sort of what Deborah Lipstadt calls 'soft-core Holocaust denial', and part of that is a tendency to use the Holocaust as an analogy for all sorts of things that are not really comparable to the Holocaust.

'The key element of that is, when Jews, which they often do, say that it is not really comparable, it gets a huge blowback from the Left.'

Mr Baddiel's grandfather had roots in Germany dating back to the 19th century. While he was held in a camp, he managed to bribe himself free and escaped to Britain with his five-month-old daughter, Sarah, who is Mr Baddiel's mother.

Mr Baddiel said: 'There was migrant hysteria about Jewish immigrants in 1940. And of course, they were Jewish-German refugees, but they weren't really understood as such.

'Churchill, as a result, in June 1940, he said this thing — 'collar the lot' — and what he meant was we're going to arrest every single German living in Britain, 99 per cent of which are Jewish-German refugees, including my grandfather, and intern them on the Isle of Man for two years.'

While it is not proven Sir Winston Churchill actually said this, there were a few Jews put in internment already - alongside the many more that were arriving from Germany.

Despite his dislike for the comparison, Mr Baddiel said Mr Lineker was right to voice his opinions, despite his tweets getting him taken off the air temporarily for breaching the BBC's imparitality guidelines. 

After the row, the BBC's director-general, Tim Davie, launched a review of the impartiality guidelines in order to clear up any 'grey areas' regarding freelancers like Mr Lineker. 

Gary LinekerSuella BravermanDavid Baddiel

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