American comedian Amy Schumer has come under fire for a tweet that has been branded “tasteless” and “offensive”.

Earlier this week, the 34-year-old tweeted a picture of herself standing between two musicians holding a clarinet and a saxophone, with the caption “a Jew with horns”. She later amended her tweet, saying: “My bad. I meant to say 'A Jew with 2 horns’”.

A Jew with horns pic.twitter.com/5v3JUHZenN

— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) March 2, 2016

The joke, which plays on the antisemitic stereotype that Jews have horns, received a mixed response on social media and online, with some people tweeting they were offended and found the tweet “disgusting”.

The website Gossip Cop dedicated a whole blog post to the tweet, calling it “offensive and wrong”.

“While comedy can provoke discussion, it’s purpose is not to perpetuate hateful and inaccurate stereotypes,” the blog said. “And Schumer’s Twitter message, which plays off the misconception that Jews are horned creatures, accomplishes less comically than it does to reignite misguided prejudice.

“Undoubtedly, Schumer will justify her mildly amusing ‘joke’ by noting that she herself was raised Jewish and can poke fun at herself, as she often does with her comedy. But does that make it okay for her to spread untrue and hurtful stereotypes about Jews?”

Gossip Cop called on Schumer to apologise “for perpetuating this slanderous depiction of Jews for a mere half-laugh.”