Last night, families of the 96 victims, Liverpool FC and politicians condemned Mr MacKenzie.
The head of the Hillsborough Family Support Group branded the comments callous and challenged him to repeat them to him face to face.
Phil Hammond, chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, whose 14-year-old son died in the tragedy, said: "This just shows what kind of man he is.
"It has been proven that the story was a pack of lies yet here is all these years later peddling his lies on the after-dinner speaking circuit.
"Why doesn't he come and tell the families this to their faces?
"If he really believed he was printing the truth and stood by what he said then why didn't he walk away when Rupert Murdoch supposedly made him make this apology?"
A spokesman for Liverpool FC said: "Any comment of that nature would be totally inappropriate and hugely disappointing." Liverpool FC were playing Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final at the South Yorkshire stadium in 1989.
Lord Justice Taylor's official inquiry into the tragedy found the cause of the disaster was overcrowding and failures by the police.
The Sun apologised in July 2004 saying it was "truly sorry" and that its false allegations were "the most terrible mistake in its history."
But families of the victims refused to accept the apology, which was issued in the wake of the angry reaction on Merseyside caused by Everton and England soccer star Wayne Rooney's deal to tell his life story to the newspaper, for a reported £250,000.
He returned to The Sun to work as a columnist from May, 2006, and is also current boss of the Wireless Group.
Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle said: "His comments just reinforce the fact that he was an unfit person to run a national newspaper.
"Everybody knows he sanctioned that story and he will have to live with that."
Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: "I think it is outrageous.
"It shows that when prejudice is deeply ingrained it is very difficult to remove.
"All the facts, including the official inquiry, are against him. It is disgraceful."
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