Baseball legend Curt Schilling has been slammed for praising a T-shirt that advocates lynching journalists.

The All-Star pitcher, 49, who is a vocal Donald Trump supporter, shared a photo of the 'offensive' T-shirt on Twitter.

The black top features the slogan: 'Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required.'

Alongside the photo, Schilling commented: 'Ok, so much awesome here...'

He has now deleted his tweet following a backlash and defended his comment as 'sarcasm'.

Curt Schilling tweets this picture of a black T-shirt with the slogan: 'Rope. Tree. Journalist.'

One Twitter user going by the name Bad Hombre wrote: 'don't deflect! Defend why YOU think a shirt advocating murder is ok. Don't hide behind "it's a joke".'

Schilling replied: 'It actually is a joke you clown. But ya, you're right, a shirt you find offensive is far more impacting than abortion, actual murder.'

Another man who also challenged Schilling's tweet was also called a 'clown'.

Bradley Shever wrote: 'You advocate lynching and eliminating the 1st amendment and you don't see a problem with that?'

'What the hell are you talking about? It's a t-shirt idiot, mocking a media that no longer is objective. #clown,' the former Red Sox pitcher wrote.

The former Red Sox pitcher has deleted the 'offensive' tweet and insisted he was being sarcastic

Schilling said he tweeted the image in an attempt to 'call out the biased media'

He urged Twitter users to call in to his online radio show for a 'whine' about the t-shirt

It is not the first time Schilling has fallen foul on social media - he has made repeated controversial comments about Muslims.

Earlier this year, he was also fired from his job as an ESPN baseball analyst after making comments on Facebook critical of transgender rights.

Schilling has voiced his intention to run for a Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2018.

The sportsman turned activist, who has an online radio show, said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on The Lead in October that there is a long standing connection between Islam and the Nazi party.