He's the celebrated Scottish comedian who's written a column for The Sun and articles for The Guardian. 

Now Frankie Boyle has been accused of "hypocrisy" after calling on his 2.7 million Twitter followers to stop buying newspapers. 

"Many British newspapers are on the verge of going bust, so there's never been a more important time to not buy one," he wrote.

The joke prompted an emotional response from journalist Katie French, who tweeted: "Hi @FrankieBoyle, sorry to hear you think local newspapers aren't worth buying.

"You may not need a local newspaper to turn to, but many do. Including the nurse I spoke to last month, who was in tears over the lack of PPE at Basingstoke hospital.

"The Glasgow Evening Times covers your hometown of Pollokshaws. Last year, they launched a campaign to teach students across Scotland CPR to help save lives. Not glamorous, but important.

"And how about the local paper that covers your university town of Aston? The multi-award-winning Birmingham Mail has a proud record of reporting on communities that often get overlooked or misrepresented. Not glamorous, but important.

"Without local newspapers, local government is left unchecked. 

"While comedians such as yourselves ponder at home about what joke to tweet next, there are thousands of people stuck inside whose only connection to the outside world is through their television, radio or their local paper."

Journalist Fiona Sturges then tweeted: "Calling for the collapse of an entire industry is callous, hypocritical and also absolute bloody madness given we need more (responsible) journalists calling government to account, not fewer."

Beneath Frankie's original tweet, social media commentator Sarah Duggers wrote: "At least the online version will be there to give you some sort of relevance I guess."