Gary Lineker has admitted his comments about child refugees had led him to get "a bit of a spanking" - but is confident his TV presenting job is safe.
There have been calls for the BBC to sack the Match Of The Day host for wading into the debate after he said public treatment of the young migrants arriving in the UK this week was "hideously racist", sparking criticism.
The Sun newspaper claimed the broadcaster was "under pressure to fire" the retired footballer, but Lineker dismissed the story.
His intervention came after concerns were raised about the age of those being transferred from the Calais Jungle camp as part of a new fast-track system to help vulnerable youngsters.
A number of the arrivals were accused of looking considerably older than 18, prompting him to post on Twitter: "The treatment by some towards these young refugees is hideously racist and utterly heartless. What's happening to our country?"
In response to the criticism, Lineker tweeted: "Getting a bit of a spanking today, but things could be worse - Imagine, just for a second, being a refugee having to flee from your home.
"Must say though, I'm rather chuffed to have been called a 'luvvie'."
The 55-year-old also responded to one Twitter user who claimed he "deserved" to lose his job, saying "I won't".
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sent a message of support for Lineker and singer Lily Allen, who was criticised in some quarters for apologising to migrants at Calais "on behalf of my country".
Writing on Twitter, Mr Corbyn said: "I admire Gary Lineker and Lily Allen for showing Britain at its best: compassionate, welcoming, and standing up to fear and division."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here