Depeche Mode have denounced white supremacist Richard Spencer after he described them as the "official band of the alt-right".

Frontman Dave Gahan, who had previously just dismissed the claim, has now described Spencer as a "c***" and said that he gets "way too much publicity already".

Spencer is President of the white nationalist think-tank National Policy Institute, and is best-known for being punched in the face by an anti-Trump protester on camera - the footage of which was turned into a popular meme.

He made his comments about Depeche Mode at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, but later said that he was joking, adding that he is a "lifelong Depeche Mode fan".

Speaking to Billboard, Gahan said: "What's dangerous about someone like Richard Spencer is, first of all, he's a c*** - and he's a very educated c*** - and that's the scariest kind of all.

"I think it was one of those things he threw out there for whatever. But he's not that type of guy - not like the other guy, the Milo [Yiannopoulos], an attention seeker, a bit crazy obviously. I saw [Milo] on Bill Maher and I was just like, 'Wow, he really is a nut job'.

"Those people to me aren't so dangerous, but this guy's [Spencer] got some weight behind him. I don't like that... I haven't had as many phone calls or texts from people over something like that - friends here and in the city, and other artists who were kind of shocked and like, 'What's this?'."

Gahan went on to explain how some of the band's music has been mistakenly interpreted as containing right-wing references.

"Over the years there's been a number of times when things of ours have been misinterpreted - either our imagery, or something where people are not quite reading between the lines.

"If anything, there's a way more sort of socialist - working class, if you like - industrial-sounding aesthetic to what we do. That's where we come from... so I don't quite get what he [Spencer] was saying."

Depeche Mode recently released their politically-charged song 'Where's the Revolution?' which addressed the ongoing political turmoil in both the UK and the US.