An image shared on Twitter allegedly shows an opinion article from The Guardian about BBC sports broadcaster Gary Lineker.

I would like to know what she’s been smoking…ffs! 🤡🥴😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/2Nh9NGHXSz

— Suzanne Seddon (@suzseddon) March 12, 2023

Verdict: False

The image is digitally altered. The attributed author has not written an article for The Guardian in 6 years.

Fact Check:

Lineker was suspended by BBC after tweeting that the U.K.’s language on immigration policy was similar to that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, according to The New York Times. He was later put back on the air after reaching an agreement with BBC, the outlet reported.

The Twitter image shows an article published by the Guardian titled, “Gary Lineker spoke his mind. He never would have been censored if he had been white.” The author of the alleged article is Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

This image, however, does not show a genuine Guardian article. A search of The Guardian’s website did not yield any results for the alleged article. A wider internet search also did not yield any results for the alleged article.

Furthermore, Alibhai-Brown has not written an article for The Guardian since November 2016, according to her author page. Her website also did not list the alleged article in the Twitter image.

The image appears to be altered from a Guardian article titled,” Gary Lineker spoke his mind. Now we should too: fate could have put any one of us in those migrant boats.” The article was written by The Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland. (RELATED: Did The New York Times Published An Op-Ed About The Bullying Of Unvaccinated Children?)

A spokesperson for The Guardian told Check Your Fact in an email that the image has “never been a published Guardian headline or story.”

This is not the first time a large news organization has been tagged with a fabricated piece on social media. Check Your Fact recently debunked a claim suggesting The New York Times published an op-ed calling for the bullying of unvaccinated children.