Comedian Dina Hashem is being defended by fellow stand-ups following the controversy caused by her XXXTentacion joke.

The up-and-coming stand-up began receiving death threats online following a joke she made about the slain rapper on Comedy Central’s show Comedy Cellar.

Dina said: ‘Is anyone still mourning XXXTentacion? He’s a rapper, who was murdered, he’s dead now. He was shot, he was on his way to buy a car with $50,000 in cash and somebody shot him and took the money, which is very tragic.

‘But I also think it would be a very good Venmo [a digital wallet, similar to PayPal] commercial. That’s the first thing I thought when I heard that. Like, “I don’t have Venmo, I should get Venmo”.’

The joke received huge backlash, with Dina making her Twitter account private and announcing that the joke would not be aired on Comedy Central.

However, her colleagues, fans and friends have defended Hashem, claiming that the joke was funny and she should be allowed to form her material around any subject she wants.

Comedian Dan Wilbur tweeted: ‘I think comedy is about finding sensitive subjects, building tension, then breaking it. It’s a magic trick where the rope is cut in half and then put back together. She did it right and people are allowed to be offended. I don’t think her intention was to anger people though.

‘The joke is basically “here’s a tragedy, but there’s a teachable moment.” Her intention matters. She didn’t book OJ on a podcast to goad people into sending her hate mail and get some press. She told a f***ing joke and Comedy Central promoted it!! They thought it was good. Ugh.

‘In case you think it was “too soon”: Eminem mocked Versace’s 1997 murder on an album he recorded in 1998 and he won 3 Grammys.’

And Kath Barbadoro wrote: ‘Dina Hashem is funny and it’s cool how these free speech people abandon all their supposed principles if the joke they’re mad at is by a woman.’

Catastrophe star Rob Delaney also supported Hashem, writing: ‘I just found the joke & loved it and it made me wanna just be at a club with comedian friends laughing. F*** anyone giving her a hard time.’

However, XXXTentacion’s fans and friends have condemned the joke, calling it ‘tasteless’ following the 20-year-old rapper’s murder in June 2018.

Rapper King Los tweeted: ‘Hey @dinahashem_ you’re trash as f*** for what you said about X’, while a fan wrote: ‘Such a tasteless joke regardless of what anybody thinks of @xxxtentacion.’

In the wake of the backlash against her joke, Dina wrote on Instagram: ‘I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone’s feelings, that’s never what I want.

‘I’m a comic and use jokes to try and make dark topics less painful but I realise not everyone feels that way, and don’t want anyone to feel badly. It was taken down and won’t air on TV.’

XXXTentacion, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was killed outside a motorcycle dealership in Florida on 18 June 2018.

While Onfroy’s music was a huge success, with his second album reaching number one in the States and his single Sad! posthumously topping the charts, his past was plagued with controversy.

At the time of his death, XXXTentacion was awaiting trial on allegations of aggravated battery, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment and witness tampering in relation to his pregnant ex-girlfriend.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which have been dropped after his death; however, in a tape released in October by the Miami-Dade County state attorney’s office, XXXTentacion admitted to a string of violent crimes, including the stabbing of eight men.

In a similar controversy to Hashem’s, the BET Hip-Hop Awards televised broadcast last October chose to bleep out XXXTentacion’s name from a cypher performed by Vic Mensa.

Vic’s lyrics went: ‘Only time you bear arms is in a wife beater, loser/Your favorite rapper’s a domestic abuser.

‘Name a single Vic Mensa song, XXX we all know you won’t live that long. I don’t respect n****s posthumously, homicide ain’t new to me/catch up with Akademiks at your eulogy.’

Onfroy’s family was in the crowd at the time, with many people criticising Mensa for calling out XXXTentacion months after his death.

However, Mensa stood by his lyrics, saying: ‘‘Recently, I did a freestyle for the BET Award cypher addressing and condemning rappers who unabashedly abuse women and those who stand up for them and even call them legends.I stand behind those statements.

‘It was prerecorded weeks ago and I had no idea a grieving mother would be in the audience to honour her lost son. I never intended to disrespect her and offer my deepest condolences for her loss at the hands of gun violence.

‘However, I vehemently reject the trend in hip-hop of championing abusers and I will not hold my tongue about it. I don’t give a f*** about getting attention. I care about bringing awareness and holding people accountable for their actions.’

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