Footballer turned TV pundit Matt Le Tissier has caused outrage after sharing an image on social media appearing to compare the Holocaust to wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

The former England star, who was recently sacked from his Sky Sports pundit role, used his Twitter account to share an image of Anne Frank with the words: “The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed her were following it.”

Above the tweet the ex-Southampton midfielder wrote: “Remember this.”

He appeared to post the image in response to a video showing a police officer challenging a member of the public on a train about the failure to wear a protective mask.

Television presenter  Robert Rinder was among those to criticise Mr Le Tessier, writing: ”I'd say more about how painfully insensitive this is but sometimes things are what they seem and people are who they seem to be. You are Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

The Judge Rinder host lost seven of his family members to Nazi death camps. 

When it was pointed out by one user that the reference to the wearing of face masks had been inferred by the original post, which was posted under the video of the train altercation, Le Tissier doubled down and responded: “No mention of masks from me or the quote. So some leap."

Another direct response to Mr Le Tissier read: “Perhaps you're being ignorant rather than deliberately offensive but please don't invoke the Holocaust to support your crackpot views about masks. Thanks in advance.”

The ex-player simply responded with a series of laughing faces.

Le Tissier first backtracked, writing: “This appears to have got a lot of bots and trolls tweeting me about masks! Yet I've just checked again and still I find no reference to masks in the original tweet!” He then deleted the post, writing: "Apologies for the recent tweet. Obviously taken out of context so I've deleted it so there's no confusion." 

During the current Covid-19 pandemic Mr Le Tissier has also urged fans to “look beyond the headlines and government propaganda.”

He denied that he identified as an “anti-vaxxer” but wrote: "Yes I've made mistakes and errors of judgment in the past, which I regret, but I believe the good I've done far outweighs the mistakes.”
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