Comedian Ricky Gervais is well-known for his forthright tweets and edgy comedy, which divides opinions at times.

But now the creator of Extras and The Office has faced a barrage of abuse on Twitter over his Halloween tweet.

He wrote: "I was going to dress up as something weird and creepy for my Halloween party, but I'm bucking the trend this year and I'm going as brave female activist Jessica Yaniv.

"This also means I don't have to wax my big old hairy balls."

Jessica is a controversial transgender woman who has also become a divisive figure online.

The 32-year-old Canadian says she will "never give up fighting for human rights equality".

Show more

Earlier, he tweeted: "This tweet upset some people yesterday so I think I should apologise and delete it and never make offensive jokes like this again."

While the tweet could have been regarded as offensive at face value, it was in relation to Jessica's fight after trying - and failing to find a beauty salon in Canada willing to wax her male intimate area.

This led to a huge debate over the matter in recent weeks, which Gervais used as material for his tweet.

Yaniv was accused of using human rights law for financial gain after she lost the landmark discrimination case over the waxing issue.

She was ordered to pay $2,000 in damages to each of the three respondents in the case.

Two were forced to shut their businesses due to the complaints and most did not speak English as a first language.

The tribunal concluded that human rights leglislation doesn't oblige a beautician to wax intimate areas they have not consented or had training to wax.