Lucian Wintrich, 29, posted a meme showing President Trump's head lodged at the tip of one of the hijacked aeroplanes flying into the World Trade Center, which was labelled with a CNN logo

A journalist has been widely condemned for tweeting a controversial image of 'CNN' Twin Towers being destroyed by a Trump plane.

Lucian Wintrich, 29, posted a meme showing President Trump's head superimposed at the tip of one of the hijacked airplanes flying into the Twin Towers, labelled with a CNN logo.

He immediately deleted the tweet after critics pounced on him.

Wintrich - who writes for the pro- alt-right blog, Gateway Pundit - says his friend in the Marines sent him the meme and claims he only took it down because of requests.

'[It was] sent to me by my friend in the Marines - and I stand by it being funny. It was taken down due to requests.

'I didn't create it - which was my point. And I could care less if folks didn't like it.'

Wintrich - a reporter at a pro-alt-right blog - took down the post after many critics 'requested' he delete it

Some social media users like Lisa Rodriguez called for him to be fired from his job before referencing the other controversial memes the reporter had posted

Wintrich has made snarky responses to his critics. In reply to Rodriguez, he boasted of his increased success after tweets calling for him to lose his job

While he's since taken the tweet down, Wintrich doesn't appear to have regretted posting the meme. In a post he said: 'I could care less if folks didn't like it'

Wintrich shot to the spotlight during the last election cycle when he organized a Twinks for Trump art show, which featured Milo Yiannopoulos dunking himself in a bathtub filled with pig blood, so as to take a stand against supposed Islamic anti-gay violence.

He has since grown a strong Twitter following and has not shied away from using his platform to respond to his critics.

One social media user posted: 'He should lose his job. Should've lost it with previous memes.'

To which Wintrich responded: 'Every time liberals say I should be fired or lose my job I get a raise and new speaking engagements.'

Wintrich's controversial meme, which he posted on Wednesday, could have been echoing a controversial gif the president posted showing him body slamming a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head.

Trump has relentlessly called the media organization as well as other major outlets, 'fake news'.

Mere hours after the controversial tweet, the president posted: 'The dishonest media will never keep us from accomplishing our objectives on behalf of our great American nation.'