Award-winning actor Samuel L Jackson and former basketball star Magic Johnson became the latest celebrities to be embroiled in a row over migrants.

Right-wing website Breitbart apologised to German footballer Lukas Podolski after mistakingly printing a photo of him on a jet-ski with the caption: ‘Spanish Police Crack Gang Moving Migrants on Jet-Skis’.

Then a photo of Jackson and Johnson emerged relaxing on a bench after a luxury shopping trip in Forte dei Marmi, Tuscany.

It courted controversy when journalist Luca Bottura doctored the image, linking the celebrities to the large numbers of African migrants that have arrived in Italy.

“Government funds at Forte dei Marmi … they go shopping at Prada with their daily allowance of 35 euros,” he wrote on social media. “Share this if you are indignant.”

The post, which Bottura said was meant to be ironic, then went viral, with many, including model Nina Moric, registering their disgust.

Moric later apologised in a post on her Facebook page.