Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has deleted a 'crass and classless' tweet he posted about the Queen on the day of her funeral.
Welsh, 63, was slammed for 'disgusting' comments he made just minutes before the Queen's state funeral on Monday.
He wrote on Twitter: "Question: would having a w*** over a image of the younger queen be respect or disrespect?"
But furious social media users blasted him as 'pathetic' and the author has now said the joke was not funny.
One Twitter user said: "What went through your mind as you sent this?"
Another wrote: "Irvine do you have any elderly female relatives? If so what made you decide to tweet this?
"It takes a very low and sad pathetic person to tweet something as disgusting as this?"
On Tuesday morning Welsh said he had deleted the tweet, which he described as 'crass'.
He said: "I deleted my tweet about the Queen.
"It was crass and classless and just not very good or funny.
"I don't profess to understand how people get upset about such things, but they do and in many cases their pain is genuine.
"It's not my place to say how people should feel."
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