Southend Adventure Island owner slammed for 'prehistoric' washing up Lionesses post

Philip Miller runs Adventure Island amusement park in Southend

A businessman has been criticised as "prehistoric" and sexist after sharing an image of unwashed dishes - suggesting it was a "tragic" consequence of the Women's World Cup.

Philip Miller MBE, who owns attractions including Adventure Island in Southend, Essex, defended the social media post, saying it was "a laugh".

He posted it after England won their semi-final with Australia on Wednesday.

Mr Miller said he could not see how the post was offensive.

He came under heavy criticism for the picture on X, formerly known as Twitter, with some people calling it "repulsive", "sexist" and others accused him of being a "dinosaur".

The photo of piles of dirty dishes had text underneath reading: "The tragic unseen side affects [sic] of the women's world cup". He captioned it "Good luck girls".

Responding to the criticism, Mr Miller told BBC Essex he was sent the post by a friend and thought it was "hilarious", so shared it.

"Then the keyboard warriors got busy and started getting all hurt and embarrassed.

"What's the world coming to? I thought we had this world of free speech?

"There's so many more important things to worry about in the world than something like that. If you don't like these things, don't read them," he said.

Mr Miller suggested people had become too sensitive and that humour was useful way of coping with the modern world.

"I'm sure there's things out there about men from the women, they all have a little giggle together, what's wrong with it?

"A bit of fun in this day and age is quite a useful thing to have, called the power of laughter."

Mr Miller said he is not concerned about social media responses saying people will boycott his businesses including Adventure Island

Mr Miller said he did not fear any backlash, despite some people replying to the post saying they would boycott his businesses.

He also said he supported the Lionesses and thought they were "fantastic".

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'Prehistoric'

Speaking about Mr Miller's post on BBC Essex, Broomfield under-16 player Ruby from Chelmsford said: "Women's football has come on so much and to get to the final it's been really good and I'm really excited."

She said: "The women are just as good as the men and that is a really sexist comment to make and I don't think it's right. I don't think that will ever go away."

Her mum, Sarah, said it was an "old-fashioned view".

She said: "I'm disappointed really, it's a little bit sexist and it's prehistoric basically and doesn't show much respect for the women's profession in football.

"The women are proving they can do football better than men. We brought it home with the Euros , we possibly may bring it home with the World Cup."