Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier was embroiled in a bizarre row with X’s AI bot, Grok, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The 57-year-old, who was sacked by Sky Sports in 2020 and has become heavily associated with various conspiracy theories, addressed Grok as though it was a person, declaring: ‘I’m afraid your credibility is shot to pieces.’
The strange interaction began with Le Tissier asking: ‘Why do some plane trails disperse quickly while others hang around and spread out to form grey blanket clouds?’
A prominent conspiracy theory surrounding the topic known as ‘chemtrails’ or ‘contrails’ claims that planes are used to spray various chemicals down onto people for nefarious reasons, of which government control is one suggestion.
Grok’s reply to Le Tissier was: ‘Those are contrails (condensation trails) from aircraft exhaust. Hot, moist engine exhaust hits cold upper-atmosphere air. If it’s dry, they vanish fast. If it’s ice-supersaturated (common at flight levels), water vapor freezes into ice crystals that linger, spread via wind shear, and can merge into thin cirrus-like ‘blanket’ clouds. Pure physics—no chemicals involved.’
But Le Tissier wasn’t happy with the answer, retorting to the AI assistant: ‘Why didn’t you just answer my question instead of assuming a certain framing. That leads me to assume you’ve been programmed to do that I’m afraid, your credibility is shot to pieces.
Matt Le Tissier, pictured taking a selfie at a Southampton game in February, argued with Grok on X in the early hours of Wednesday morning
‘So rather than just reason you went straight to conspiracy theories, you’ve clearly been programmed to do that as you said you don’t think for yourself.
‘Have you been programmed to spout government propaganda or can you think for yourself?’
Le Tissier left his role as Southampton ambassador in 2022 after posting on social media suggesting there was media manipulation on the way the Russian invasion of Ukraine was reported. He then deleted the posts.
The former Premier League star, who became a pundit after retiring from his brilliant career at St Mary’s blamed his Sky Sports exit on his refusal to wear a BLM badge and his views on Covid-19.
He was criticised for sharing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in 2021, with Professor Keith Neal, an expert in public health at the University of Nottingham, accusing him of putting lives at risk by encouraging people to not get the jab.
He was also slammed by fans the following year for spreading conspiracy theories about the Ukraine war, where he appeared to claim Russia’s massacre in Bucha had been blown out of proportion, before later deleting his tweet.
He also posted a thread questioning the legitimacy of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
His former Soccer Saturday colleague Jeff Stelling wrote that Le Tissier’s post was ‘total and absolute b*******’ before it was later deleted, and then added: ‘Sorry if there was any ambiguity. I disagree with Tiss 100 per cent’.
In 2023 he launched a bizarre attack on David Beckham after coming across a photo the former England captain had taken with Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates the previous year.
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.
‘Why are you getting involved with that bloke for? Do you have any idea what crimes he’s committed?’
Gates has never been convicted or even charged with any crimes and is widely heralded for his philanthropy.
Despite the numerous controversies, Le Tissier insisted he has no regrets and pushes back on the notion that he is a conspiracy theorist, telling his old Soccer Saturday host on a podcast called Football’s Greatest With Jeff Stelling: ‘I don’t regret doing what I’ve done, even though it’s cost me stuff. I would do exactly the same thing again because I think it’s the right thing to do.
‘I think as a society we’ve gone down a very dangerous path, and I think people need to try to understand just how close we are to being run by very tyrannical people who don’t have the best interests of humanity at heart. And that’s the basis for everything that I’ve done, really.’
