President Trump has hit out at rapper Snoop Dogg's latest video, in which the artist fires a toy gun at a Donald Trump character.

He wrote on Twitter: "Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!"

The video was first posted at the weekend and features the rapper pointing a gun at a clown dressed as the US President. When he pulls the trigger the word "bang" appears.

The US Secret Service has confirmed it is "aware" of the controversial video, but added that it "does not comment on protective operations".

Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2017

The video has already been condemned by one of Trump's former rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.


Marco Rubio told TMZ: "Snoop shouldn't have done that. If the wrong person sees it and gets the wrong idea, you could have a real problem.

"We've had presidents assassinated before so anything like that is something people should be really careful about."

The video, which features Snoop and Kaytranada and is a remix of Lavender by the Canadian group BadBadNotGood, includes a cast of people dressed as clowns.

It also features a live televised news conference from "The Clown House" with the headline "Ronald Klump wants to deport all doggs".

Image: Trump is portrayed as 'Ronald Klump' in the video

The rapper backed Hillary Clinton during last year's presidential election campaign. In 2012 he endorsed libertarian Republican candidate Ron Paul but said he would vote for Barack Obama.

The Secret Service routinely looks into perceived threats against America's sitting Commander-in-Chief. Those responsible are sometimes interviewed by agents.

On its website, the Secret Service says it "investigates people who make threats against the president, vice president and any of the other people the agency protects".

It adds: "These are probably the Secret Service's most serious cases because it must be determined whether this person really wants to hurt one of these people."

It was prompted into a similar response in January when Madonna told a crowd at the anti-Trump Women's March in Washington: "I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. But I know that this won't change anything."

No action has so far been taken against the singer.