“Perhaps it was meant for the less sensitive.”

The man behind Irish reality TV shows ‘Fade Street’ and ‘’Dublin Housewives’ has tonight been taken to task on Twitter after one of the most tasteless jokes you’re likely to see on the social network.

Johnny Norton, who bills himself as a ‘film and TV producer based in Dublin, Ireland’, and whose Twitter profile lists his ‘recent credits’ as ‘Fade Street, Celebrity Salon and now Dublin Housewives’ took to the social network tonight to post a crass joke regarding the tragic death of nurse Jacinta Saldanha.

Norton’s ‘joke’ suggested that Saldanha has been found alive and well and was playing a prolonged trick on the Australian DJs who placed the now infamous prank call.

He followed up with a second tweet asking whether the joke was in bad taste, but adding that it made him smile. 

Thought the original post was met by stony silence from most of Norton’s followers on the service, one of the stars of his original Irish television success, Fade Street, questioned the humour. 

Louise Johnston, who alongside Vouge Williams was one of the central characters in the show and now models with the Andrea Roche Agency, asked if the tweet was a “true or a v bad joke”, following up with another message to Norton that read: “I just find it really distasteful that you'd mock suicide”, likely echoing the sentiments of many who would be offended by such a post. 

Mr. Norton’s response was to tell Johnston to “go back to being blonde”, and when question on his taste levels he suggested that his post was “meant for the less sensitive”. 

Norton’s Twitter account is public, meaning that anyone can see the posts whether they are following him on the social network or not. Perhaps the ‘comedy’ would be best left to the professionals.