FORMER footballer Matt Le Tissier has accused ITV Channel of ‘threatening’ Jersey Bulls and placing them in ‘an impossible position’ – after the club confirmed he would no longer be a guest speaker at their gala dinner on Saturday.
Mr Le Tissier – a former England international – stepped down from his role as ambassador for Southampton FC, after a backlash against a tweet he shared which spread a conspiracy theory about the killing of Ukrainian civilians.
Since then he has also claimed that some Covid-19 patients were actors and described PCR testing as ‘the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on mankind’.
Jersey Bulls said their booking commitment had been made ‘ahead of recent controversial events which have been well documented’ and had ‘mutually agreed to cancel Matt Le Tissier’s involvement’.
However, in a post on Twitter, the Guernseyman said ITV had ‘basically threatened’ to send cameras to the dinner and turn it into a ‘controversial event’ if the club allowed him to speak.
— Matt Le Tissier???? (@mattletiss7) May 5, 2022
He said: ‘Obviously [the Jersey Bulls] knew what my views were on things that are going on in the world at the moment, but were quite happy to book me – until earlier this week when ITV Jersey basically threatened the Jersey Bulls that, If I was to speak at the event, that they would send cameras to the event, and they would turn it into a controversial event and report on it as a controversial event.’
He said he thought ITV Jersey had behaved ‘despicably’.
An ITV spokesperson said: ‘ITV Channel TV was never planning to cover the event and had absolutely no bearing on this decision.’
