Stand-up comedian Rosie Jones has come under fire for a controversial joke she made about national treasure Sir David Attenborough. The Taskmaster star, 35, shared a quip from one of her routines on Instagram, in which she joked she is “waiting” for David, 99, to die.

Alongside snaps of Rosie on stage, the post read: “I love David Attenborough, but right now I am waiting for him to die. Hear me out – he’s a national treasure! But right now, in the UK, we have so many national treasures, if anything, too many. Right now, we’re talking a one-in, one-out situation. And I want in!” she finished.

Rosie’s caption to the post added: “Listen. I’m not wishing anything BAD on Dave. I’m just saying… I’m here… waiting…”

But although plenty of fans found the quip funny, with plenty posting cry-laughing emojis in the comments section, others weren’t so impressed.

One wrote: “Just me or does this feel distasteful to anyone else?”

While another echoed: “So unclassy.” A third said: “As an Attenborough fan this is wildly offensive.”

Other fans saw the funny side, with one writing: “This is going to look so suspicious if he dies soon. I’ve got my eye on you Rosie.”

“I’m just really scared he dies soon and you’re under the spotlight!” another joked.

It comes just months after Rosie slammed fellow comedians Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais for their controversial trans jokes.

She branded them “privileged cis white straight men” who “open their newspaper and go, ‘Oh, people are talking about trans people. I can know a bit about that without experiencing it at all.’”

Rosie said: “To those boys, I’d say with respect, shut the f*** up.”