An Irish film-maker has called on

U.S.

authorities to ban Irish comic

Tommy Tiernan

.


Louis Lentin, the former head of drama at the national broadcaster,  RTÉ, said Tiernan should be denied a visa for his shows in the U.S. in October.

Lentin said Tiernan's comments at the Electric Picnic festival in County Laois were "disgraceful," and “extraordinarily racist."

"He doesn’t realise what he has said. He doesn’t realise the seriousness of it. You can’t make a joke about the Holocaust and just because you say it is a joke does not make it funny or acceptable,” Lentin said.

In the meantime, Tiernan's two shows in San Francisco have been postponed due to a "scheduling conflict."

Tiernan was due to perform four shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco next month but the San Francisco shows are now on hold.