THE CEO of Adventure Island is under fire for an alleged sexist tweet sent before the England Lionesses world cup semi-final win against Australia.

The Lionesses beat Australia 3-1 yesterday, August 16, advancing to the World Cup final for the first time, facing Spain on Sunday.

Before the game, Adventure Island CEO Philip Miller tweeted ‘good luck girls’ with a photo of an unkempt kitchen captioned “The tragic unseen side effects of the women’s world cup.”

The tweet saw Mr Miller criticised heavily by residents and councillors alike.

Lydia Hyde, Labour Councillor for St Laurence, responded expressing her disgust.

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

Other tweeters called Mr Miller a ‘disgrace’, ‘pathetic’ and one user said they would not visit Adventure Island again.

Mr Miller released a statement in response to the criticism.

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Philip Miller on Southend's iconic The Kursaal building

Adventure Island owner Philip Miller on Southend parking

He said: “I put what I considered and still do to be a tongue-in-cheek post out on Twitter yesterday afternoon. 

“For only a thousand or so followers I can’t believe the reach my little tweet has made. In excess of twenty-five thousand and still counting. At this rate might even top the 50 thousand.

"As they say no publicity is bad publicity. 

“However I do have the feeling the worlds 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.”

The Lionesses defeated Australia in a thrilling match against the backdrop of an Australian home crowd, making the victory even more impressive.

The team will face off against a tough Spain team on Sunday, August 20, at 11am, hoping to replicate their Euro’s success from last year

The match will be shown on BBC and ITV with both broadcasters winning the bid to share rights to the game.