Bob Geldof sparked a social media storm after appearing to misgender singer Sam Smith live on air.

Viewers of ITV's This Morning took to Twitter after the singer-songwriter, who lives in Faversham, referred to Smith as 'he' and 'him'.

Speaking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, Mr Geldof spoke about the singer – who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns 'they' and 'them'– when speaking about a previous Band Aid gig they had both performed at.

Mr Geldof said: "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'."

A number of viewers took issue with the misgendering during Wednesday's broadcast, with one user saying the mistake is "so easy not to do".

Others also took issue with the programme's hosts failing to pick up on the mistake.

Hayley Watson tweeted: "Not Bob Geldof repeatedly misgendering Sam Smith on live telly and Holly and Phil not correcting him…"

However, many others sprang to the veteran singer's defence, with one pointing out that Smith "probably was he/him when working with Bob".

"It's not like he's doing it maliciously," he added.

Another pointed out that the main reason Mr Geldof had appeared on the programme was to pay tribute to his late Boomtown Rats bandmate Garry Roberts.

"Geldof had just lost his friend and bandmate," replied one user. "You know, something to really get upset about. Get a grip."