Wiz Khalifa has paid tribute to Pablo Escobar by sharing a photo of himself appearing to smoke marijuana near the late Colombian drug lord’s grave.

The US rapper, who is from Pittsburgh, posted a photo of flowers and a marijuana joint next to Escobar’s headstone and a second image of himself smoking what appears to be cannabis near the grave.

Khalifa, who posted the photos during a trip to perform in the Colombian city of Medellin, also shared an image of himself posing in front of the apartment where the cartel lived and which is the site of a bombing and an attempt on Escobar’s life back in the 1980s.

Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, is a prolific marijuana smoker and even has a strain of marijuana named after him which he markets with a Colorado company.

The apparent tributes to the druglord, who was killed on a Medellin rooftop in 1993 during a shootout as he attempted to escape police, have caused fury among Colombians.

Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez demanded the rapper apologise for "advocating crime" and labelled Khalifa a “scoundrel”.

"It shows that this guy has never had to suffer from the violence inflicted by these drug traffickers," Mr Gutierrez told the BBC.

The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Show all 10 1 /10 The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Leonardo DiCaprio On climate change: 'Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.' Getty The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Chrissy Teigen 'I will never stop talking about how horrible Donald Trump is. Even after he loses, I will set an alert to my phone to remind me to not stop.’ Getty The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Nicki Minaj On the war on drugs and US prison system: “What it has become is not a war on drugs. It has become slavery. Or something crazier. When I see how many people are in jail, I feel like, ‘Wait a minute. Our government is aware of these statistics and thinks it’s OK’ The sentences are inhumane.” Christopher Polk/Getty Images for A+E Networks The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Emily Ratajkowski 'I am not shamed or apologetic of what my body might represent to you. It’s the body I was given. I'm no less worthy of making political points about feminism or fighting for the reclaiming of female sexuality because of it.' Andrew Toth/Getty Images The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Jesse Williams On racial equality: ‘Now what we've been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to de-escalate, disarm and not kill white people every day. So what's going to happen is we are going to have equal rights and justice in our own country or we will restructure their function and ours.’ Getty The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Zendaya On claiming a magazine photoshopped her: ‘Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19 year old hips and torso quite manipulated. These are the things that make women self conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have.’ Getty The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Jennifer Lawrence ‘I’m over trying to find the "adorable" way to state my opinion and still be likable! F**k that. I don't think I've ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It's just heard.' AFP/Getty Images The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind John Legend On Black Lives Matter: 'We should not have to jump through hoops to prove black people shouldn’t be shot by police during routine traffic stops. So many people work so hard to find a reason why executing a human being during a traffic stop is ok. IT’S NOT OK.' Getty The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Amandla Stenberg On cultural appropriation: 'What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?' Getty Images The famous men and women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind Maisie Williams On feminism: “I [also] feel like we should stop calling feminists ‘feminists’ and just start calling people who aren’t feminist ‘sexist’ – and then everyone else is just human. You are either a normal person or a sexist. People get a label because they’re bad.' Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The city has spent over two decades endeavouring to rid of its image as the druglord’s former headquarters.

While some on social media argued Khalifa had shown “a lack of respect” for the people of Colombia, others leapt to his defence.

“Colombia fills its pockets making series about the life of Pablo Escobar, but are indignant when Wiz Khalifa take him flowers #hypocrites,” said one.

Escobar, who was often dubbed the “The king of cocaine”, was accused of being behind up to 80 per cent of all the cocaine shipped to the US at the height of his career. His life was documented in Netflix series Narcos.