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Guernsey-born footballer Matt Le Tissier has stepped down as an ambassador of Southampton FC after receiving backlash to a tweet suggesting reports of atrocities in Bucha were lies by the media.
Mr Le Tissier played for Southampton FC until 2002 and was a television commentator for Soccer Saturday. He was made Honorary President of Guernsey FC in 2011.
He tweeted yesterday that he would be stepping aside from his role as ambassador for Southampton FC.
It follows him retweeting a post from Unity News Network, a UKIP-linked news publication, which suggested that mainstream media were lying about the Bucha massacre.
The massacre occurred during the continued invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. Reports vary but it’s understood that more than 300 civilians lost their lives at the hands of Russian soldiers.
The media lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction.
— UNN (@UnityNewsNet) April 5, 2022
The media lied about Covid.
The media lied about the Hunter Biden laptop.
But honestly they are telling the truth about Bucha!
UNN is LIVE from 12:30 on https://t.co/djU8H0g8Zf pic.twitter.com/ldW01BYpqX
Pictured: Mr Le Tissier quote-tweeted this post from UNN, with a caption saying "This" accompanied by an emoji of a finger pointing down.
The atrocities in Bucha have seen the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, liken it to genocide and accuse Russian forces of war crimes.
Mr Le Tissier’s support of the UNN’s stance drew heavy criticism online and he has since deleted his original post and posted the following:
It’s not the first time Mr Le Tissier has courted controversy, after being sacked from his role at Sky Sports for comments he made about covid and the Black Lives Matter movement.
He continues to be an outspoken critic of how the covid pandemic has been dealt with. Most recently he spoke at an event called ‘Covid Conversations’ where numerous anti-vaccination arguments were made to a crowd of hundreds.
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