KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Singer-songwriter and political activist Sir Bob Geldof is facing public backlash after repeatedly misgendered singer Sam Smith on a national UK talk show.

Band Aid hero Geldof, 71, infuriated viewers as he continued to refer to the non-binary singer as ‘he’, The Mirror reported.

Other viewers found fault in hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield for not correcting his mistake.

They took to Twitter to vent their frustrations.

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“Holly and Phil should have pulled him up on that. Ridiculous,” one fumed.

“He’s on national TV and speaking about Sam Smith. You’d think someone would brief him on Sam’s gender identity or at least correct him. Painful watch,” said another.

“Sorry but why didn’t Holly or Phillip tell Bob he was misgendering Sam Smith,” questioned a third.

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But there were those who thought nothing of it and sprang to the veteran singer’s defence.

“Sam Smith is a HE though!!” tweeted one. “Well done Sir Bob Geldof.”

“What a lot of tosh,” commented another. “Makes it sound as if there were masses fuming. Whereas it’s just your usual minority of gripers. Call yourself what you want. Don’t expect others to.”

“The horror! Bob Geldof called a man ‘he’,” said a third.

Geldof appeared as a guest on This Morning to discuss a wide range of topics, including the death of his Boomtown Rats bandmate Garry Roberts and the impact Band Aid has had over the years.

He also discussed the upcoming 40th anniversary of Band Aid when he mentioned Sam Smith and their part in the song which was released back in 2014.

However, he repeatedly misgendered the Unholy hit-maker — who identifies as non-binary and has asked people to use the pronouns ‘they/them’ when being addressed in both the media and in their personal life.

Geldof said on the talk show: “Sam Smith, I remember him at the microphone had his eyes closed, and he was singing away to the song, and I said ‘Sam, they’re not the words’. He goes, ‘oh yeah, sorry’.

“Because we had re-written the words for I think the Ebola crisis in west Africa.

“And he says ‘sorry’, so off he goes, he closes his eyes again and he starts singing the original words.

“I said, ‘Sam’, and he goes ‘oh yes, sorry, every year in school I have to sing this song’.”