Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier has launched a bizarre attack on David Beckham for taking a photo with Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.
Beckham shared a photo with himself alongside Gates on Instagram last year, declaring it a ‘real honour’ to meet him but Le Tissier strangely said: ‘Why are you getting involved with that bloke for? Do you have any idea what crimes he’s committed?’
Le Tissier went as far as to say the image ‘made my stomach turn’.
Gates has never been convicted or even charged with any crimes and is widely heralded for his philanthropy. This is not the first time Le Tissier – who has described himself as a conspiracy realist in the past, strangely targeted the American.
Back in 2021, he appeared to imply that Gates could be linked to the death of Tanzania president John Magafuli.
Magafuli died in March 2021 of reported heart complications just days after the country’s Prime Minister had declared he was ‘healthy and working hard’.
David Beckham (right) took a picture with Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates (left) last year
Matt Le Tissier has said seeing the picture of Beckham and Gates ‘made my stomach turn’
Le Tissier questioned why Beckham would want to get involved with Gates
Le Tissier subsequently posted a screenshot of an article by The Guardian that had criticised Magafuli’s anti-vaxxer stance shortly before his death, and pointed out the piece was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The photo Beckham shared was not the only focus of Le Tissier’s ire, however. He even threw in an unsubtle dig at Beckham’s footballing ability, claiming his ex-England team-mate was never ‘world-class’.
Speaking to former Premier League footballer David Cotterill, Le Tissier said: ‘My stomach turned when I saw that picture of David Beckham with Bill Gates.
‘I mean, seriously, why? You were a good footballer, David, you weren’t great. You weren’t world-class. You were a very, very good footballer at what you did, you were very good.
‘Why are you getting involved with that bloke for? Do you have any idea what crimes he’s committed?’
Cotterill responded by asking whether Le Tissier thinks Beckham ‘has to’ be seen with global figures like Gates.
Le Tissier replied: ‘Yeah. I think it’s all part and parcel of that circle of people at that level.’
It seems Le Tissier is referring to unfounded claims about the Gates Foundation and vaccines. Le Tissier has been widely labelled an ‘anti-vax’ conspiracy theorist.
In recent years, Le Tissier has not been shy in voicing his criticism of Gates, questioning his involvement in the Covid-19 vaccine.
Le Tissier previously implied Gates could be linked to the death of Tanzania president John Magafuli in 2021
His post read: ‘And a couple of weeks later he’s (Magafuli) dead. These coincidences are quite amazing but of course that’s just what they are, coincidences.
‘The sponsors of the article you ask, nah just another coincidence.’
Le Tissier has labelled himself a ‘conspiracy realist’ in the past, and blamed his sacking from his job on Soccer Saturday with Sky Sports in 2020 on not being afraid to express his controversial views.
Speaking on a podcast last year, he insisted ‘I’m not a nutter’, after questioning vaccines.
Le Tissier told The AJ Roberts Show that he had doubts about the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic early on after seeing videos of people in China falling over in the street that ‘looked completely inauthentic’.
He explained that this led to him doing some research on those he believed were involved in trying to convince people to take the vaccine, including Gates.
‘Suddenly all these people came out the woodwork you’d never heard of before – Anthony Fauci, people like that. Bill Gates had been around for a long time, I’d heard stuff and not taken much notice. I heard the rumours about Bill Gates, so thought I’d go on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website and have a look around,’ Le Tissier said.
‘I was amazed to find that all these people that were involved in the pandemic – the WHO and all that stuff – were beneficiaries of money from this foundation.
‘In my mind I’ve always been a bit sceptical of people in power and corruption, and I thought it was too much of a coincidence. It led me onto the World Economic Forum and what they stood for, what they were trying to do.’
‘There are too many coincidences for this not to be something a little bit below the belt here, there’s something going on here that’s not quite right and that’s where it all started for me with questioning the narrative and probably ended up with me losing my job at Sky.’
The former Premier League star also appeared to suggest on social media that images of Russia’s massacre of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, following their invasion of the country last year had been exaggerated, with ‘crisis actors’ used to make the situation look worse than it was.
Le Tissier, who was sacked from his Sky Sports job in 2020, has labelled himself a ‘conspiracy realist’
He suggested on social media last year that the media were not telling the truth about the Russia-Ukraine war
‘It is incredible – if you talk to people about crisis actors and point out that that picture they’re claiming is from this war was taken four years ago,’ he added.
‘Does that not make you a little bit suspicious they’re using a picture from four years ago?
‘With all the technology we’ve got available now, why couldn’t they get a picture from Kyiv?
‘Please, do some critical thinking and just make yourself think that possibly there’s something else at play here.’
These claims from Le Tissier have since been disproved.
