Comedian Jimmy Carr has been heavily criticised for a “disgusting” and “beyond tasteless joke” made about the travelling community and the Holocaust in his new Netflix show.

Anti-hate groups, including Hope Not Hate and the Holocaust Educational Trust, condemned the comic for the comments and urged Netflix to remove the offensive material.

Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP, accused the streaming giant of “legitimising and perpetuating racism” by broadcasting the show, titled His Dark Material. 

In the show, which was released on Christmas Day but has only just gained widespread attention after a clip was posted online, Mr Carr said: “When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine.

“But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis.

“No one ever wants to talk about that, because no one ever wants to talk about the positives.”

The joke was met with “whooping and cheering from the audience”.

The 49-year-old, known for his stand-up and roles on shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats, issued a “trigger warning” to the audience at the beginning of his one-hour special, admitting his performance contained “terrible things”.

In a synopsis of the programme, which aired on Christmas Day, it says the special features jokes which are “career enders”.

The Auschwitz Memorial condemned Mr Carr in a tweet to its 1.2 million followers: