A petition has been launched against comedian Bill Maher after he jokingly compared Zayn Malik to a Boston Marathon terrorist.

At the time of writing, over 2,600 people have called for the TV man to apologise for his quip.

Maher suggested that the former One Direction singer was like Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

He said Real Time With Bill Maher: "I think after everything we’ve been through, I at least deserve the common respect of being told face to face [that you’d quit One Direction].

"Just tell me two things, Zayn. Which one in the band were you? And where were you during the Boston Marathon?"

The petition, which can viewed here, says: "This is completely unacceptable. Racism should not become normalised especially on NATIONAL TELEVISION.

"Bill Maher and whoever wrote the script, need to be severely disciplined and at least apologise to show that this type of behaviour is NEVER ok."

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