In 48 hours Gary Lineker went from being an "England legend" to a "leftie luvvie".
The Sun front page on Friday says the BBC is facing calls to sack the Match of the Day presenter for "peddling migrant lies".
This week unaccompanied child refugees arrived in the UK from Calais, but many newspapers questioned whether some of those arriving were under 18.
On Tuesday Lineker tweeted that the response by some people towards the young refugees was "hideously racist and utterly heartless".
Lineker was subsequently abused on Twitter for defending the refugees, as The Sun's website reported on Wednesday:
England legend Gary Lineker was sent a torrent of abuse on social media after defending the ‘child’ migrants arriving in the UK this week.
The Match of the Day presenter labelled people questioning the age of some of the youths brought over from Calais as 'hideously racist and utterly heartless'.
By Friday, Lineker had been downgraded from "England legend" to "leftie luvvie".
Leftie luvvie Gary Lineker ‘should be sacked’ for peddling charity lie about ‘child migrant, 38’… https://t.co/rFRTSlsIqP
"The BBC was under pressure to fire Gary Lineker last night after he spread false claims about an Afghan at the centre of the child migrant storm," The Sun's splash story says.
"The jug-eared Match of the Day host had already sparked fury by branding anyone questioning the age of dubious child refugees 'hideously racist'. But millionaire Lineker went on to retweet a charity's lie that the oldest-looking asylum seeker pictured with arrivals was actually a Home Office interpreter."
Lots of people jumped to Lineker's defence on Twitter, accusing The Sun of hypocrisy.
So, lie about migrants and you should be forced to give up what you do. Seems like a fair policy.
“Peddles migrant lies”. (Via @gameoldgirl)
Perhaps everybody should just agree not to "peddle migrant lies".
Writing on Twitter, Lineker said he was "getting a bit of spanking today, but things could be worse: Imagine, just for a second, being a refugee having to flee from your home."
He went on to thank people for their support, and added he was "chuffed" by his new label.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Gary is a freelance broadcaster and this is a personal Twitter account.”
BuzzFeed News has asked Lineker's representatives for comment.