Posters advertising a new album by indie star Morrissey have been removed from rail stations following a complaint from an angry commuter.
Merseyrail ordered the promotional items to be torn down after the passenger raised concerns about the singer's controversial views.
The posters were highlighting the former Smiths frontman's latest album, entitled California Son, released today (Friday).
However, his recent support for a far-right political party has made him a controversial figure - leaving Merseyrail scrambling to get the posters removed after one commuter voiced his disgust, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Jack Dotchin, 32, said he was offended by the singer's outspoken views. He was told by Merseyrail that the posters were placed by ad agency Exterion Media.
The Toxteth resident said: "[The things Morrissey has said] offend me and a lot of other people.
"It's just strange to think Merseyrail, being a public service for the people, is advertising someone with his views.
"It's just pictures of Morrissey with his new album. He's not doing anything inappropriate, but his name is a by-name for questionable views at the moment.
"Lots of record stores are refusing to stock it so I'm not the only one to say it."
The world's oldest record store, Spillers Records in Cardiff, refused to stock the album due to Morrissey's support for the far-right political party For Britain, including wearing a badge with the party’s logo when performing on a US talk show.
Anne Marie Waters, the leader of For Britain, has described Islam as evil and as “a culture that does not fit with ours”.
She thanked Morrissey for raising the profile of the party, saying: “I can tell you that the traffic to our website exploded with the story breaking of you wearing the For Britain button badge.”
The How Soon Is Now singer has become increasingly controversial for a string of remarks, including his support for EDL founder Tommy Robinson in the wake of his sentencing for contempt of court.
Merseyrail told the Echo: "Advertising on the Merseyrail network is managed by an external third party, who are currently in the process of removing these posters.
"Processes are in place for Merseyrail to approve any potentially contentious material prior to it appearing on the network, however due to the nature of this advertisement it did not reach a level of verification.
"Merseyrail will work the third party supplier to improve this process in the future."
“Any content used within advertising on the Merseyrail network does not reflect the organisation’s values and we apologise for any offence the publication of these posters may have caused.”
Exterion declined to comment.
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