Names and faces
■ The BBC was forced to scrap much of its weekend sports programming as it scrambled Saturday to stem an escalating crisis over its suspension of soccer host Gary Lineker for comments criticizing the British government’s new asylum policy. As a growing number of Premier League players and presenters rallied to Lineker’s support and refused to appear on the BBC airwaves, Britain’s national broadcaster faced allegations of political bias and suppressing free speech, as well as praise from some Conservative politicians. The broadcaster said it would air only “limited sport programming” over the weekend after hosts of many of its popular sports shows declined to appear, in solidarity with Lineker. The former star player was suspended from “Match of the Day,” a popular highlights show, over a Twitter post that compared lawmakers’ language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany. Instead of blanket coverage on Saturday of the most popular league in the world, the BBC had no preview shows on radio or TV and no early evening summary of the final scores of Premier League games. The lunchtime TV program “Football Focus” was replaced with a rerun episode of antiques show “Bargain Hunt,” while early evening “Final Score” was swapped for “The Repair Shop.” Soccer fans tuning for “Match of the Day” — the late-night soccer show that has been a British institution for 60 years — were likely to get match coverage from the same feed used by broadcasters around the world instead of BBC’s own commentators and no studio punditry from some of the most high-profile stars in the British game.
■ Former “Baywatch” star Alexandra Paul and another woman went on trial last week in Merced County, Calif., after video showed them taking two chickens from a Foster Farms truck outside a California plant. The incident, which occurred in September, was captured on video by animal activist organization Direct Action Everywhere. Footage shows Paul and Alicia Santurio running up to an idling semi that is carrying a trailer full of chickens outside Foster Farms’ Livingston plant. They open a chicken cage and grab two chickens. The pair run back to a waiting car as the chickens squawk in their arms and ruffle their feathers. Paul and Santurio were charged with misdemeanor theft. Jury selection in their trial began Tuesday. Paul said the action was an “open rescue” of the chickens from alleged mistreatment at the plant. “We published this video within an hour with both my name and Alicia Santurio’s name attached to it because we believe what we’re doing is legal and morally right,” Paul said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “We’re rescuing sick chickens from a factory farm that has a history of abusing them,” she said. Paul and Direct Action Everywhere said that the chickens that were taken were sick and that one died shortly after it was pulled from the truck despite receiving veterinary care. Foster Farms did not respond to a request for comment.