Comedian Jerry Lewis under fire after calling cricket a “fag’s game”

The veteran American comedian Jerry Lewis is under fire after he made what has been described as an anti-gay slur, little over a year after he was forced to apologise for a similar remark.

The gaff happened during a news conference on Sydney when he was asked for his opinion on cricket.

“Oh, cricket? It’s a fag game. What are you, nuts?” 82-year-old Lewis replied, while handling an imaginary cricket bat in a camp manner.

The comment was broadcast by the Austrian Network Ten news.

The American Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) will now examine the footage.

Last year, Lewis apologised after making a comment during a televised fund-raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

“Oh, your family has come to see you. You remember Bart, your oldest son, Jesse, the illiterate fag..” Lewis said before stopping mid sentence, presumably realising that the joke may not be appropriate in a politically correct society.

Lewis later apologised “to anyone who was offended.”

“I obviously made a bad choice of words. Everyone who knows me understands that I hold no prejudices in this regard,” he added. “The success of the (telethon) and all the good that will come from it shouldn’t be lost because of one unfortunate word. I accept responsibility for what I said. There are no excuses. I am sorry.”