GARY Lineker has challenged Twitter and Elon Musk after his son George was sent a threatening message saying he should be “burned at the stake”.

In the wake of his row with the BBC, the ex-England striker re-shared the private message sent to his son which also called him a “mug”.

Lineker wrote: “Is this acceptable @Twitter @elonmusk? And I don’t mean the grammar.”

The message to Lineker’s son from an Alex - with the handle @Alijedd614 – said: “Your a mug how dare you stick up for what your shithouse of a dad said you need to be burned at the stake.”

Lineker was reinstated as Match of the Day host on Monday after he was asked to step back following his comments about the UK Government’s asylum policy.

He said the language used in the announcement of the Illegal Migration Bill was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

On sharing the message he had been sent, George said: “Social media is mad, isn’t it. Over the last few days, on insta – never had so many nice messages. On Twitter – never had so much abuse.

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“It’s not even anything to do with me.”

Many of the BBC's sports presenters withdrew their labour in solidarity with Lineker over the weekend, causing major disruption to its sports programming. 

Now, Lineker and BBC management have reached a deal allowing him to return - with a review into social media guidelines pledged for those outside of news and current affairs. 

Lineker thanked director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, for his “understanding during this difficult period”.

He added: “He has an almost impossible job keeping everybody happy, particularly in the area of impartiality. I’m delighted we’ll continue to fight the good fight, together.”