The Rolling Stones will no longer play their iconic Brown Sugar song amid concerns over references to slavery, rape, and “black girls”.

Mick Jagger confirmed that the 1971 track has been dropped from their setlist for their US tour after its 50-year run.

“We’ve played Brown Sugar every night since 1970, so sometimes you think, we’ll take that one out for now and see how it goes,” he told the Los Angeles Times. 

“We might put it back in.”

But fellow Rolling Stones member Keith Richards was quick to say he “doesn’t understand” what the “beef is”.

“Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they’re trying to bury it. At the moment I don’t want to get into conflicts with all of this s—,” the 77-year-old said. 

The song includes references to slavery and rape, including the first verse: “Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields/Sold in the market down in New Orleans /Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing alright/Hear him whip the women just around midnight.”