Essex business leader comes under fire for 'sexist' tweet about Lionesses over leftover washing up

The boss of a theme park has been heavily criticised for sharing a "sexist" social media post about England's women's football team.

Before the semi-final win over Australia, the chief executive of Southend's Adventure Island Philip Miller shared "good luck girls" with a photo of an untidy kitchen captioned “The tragic unseen side effects of the women’s World Cup.”

The post attracted a huge backlash with some describing it as "awful stereotyping and misogyny" while others said it was "embarrassing" and a "disgrace."

Others threatened to boycott his seaside business.

But Mr Miller, one of Southend's most prominent businessmen and an MBE, defended his post in a statement to his local newspaper, saying it was just "tongue-in-cheek".

"As they say no publicity is bad publicity," reported the Southend Echo.

“However I do have the feeling the world's going mad and being taken over by the noisy minority.

"It’s getting to the point where people are frightened of their own shadow just in case the keyboard warriors start on them.

“More importantly I really do wish the girls good luck in the final. It will give the whole country a much needed lift if they do pull it off.”

Labour councillor Lydia Hyde, who represents the St Laurence ward on Southend Council, was among those to criticise Mr Miller on X, formerly Twitter.

She posted: “What a repulsive, sexist post from a Member of the British Empire. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The Lionesses will take on Spain in Sunday's final after their 3-1 victory over Australia in Wednesday's semi-final.

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