Top Gear's James May hit with backlash as he shares gun pic: 'Insanely bad timing!'

Former Top Gear host James May was hit with comments of criticism after he was bashed for his "bad timing". The 62-year-old TV host, who formerly worked with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, shared what he has been up to recently by documenting a trip to a shooting range on his social media account.

On Wednesday evening, May posted a snap of himself back to back with DriveTribe's videographer and presenter, Lucy Brown. The pair of them looked solemn-faced as they each posed and held a gun in the air. The other pictures showed James taking aim, with ear defenders on, while one more image showed the friends inspecting the result of their shots as they looked at their target sheets. James captioned the Instagram post, writing: "Lucy Brown shoots my ass off." However, he was met with upset as some of his two million followers complained that the images were in poor taste.

"Insanely bad timing," one fan fumed. Meanwhile another echoed: "Literally the only time May has ever posted a photo here of him holding a gun and it had to be today of all days."

Someone else suggested: "You might want to take this down." One more person complained: "Nah, out of taste. Really badly."

The outrage comes after American activist Charlie Kirk was shot in front of thousands of onlookers on the same day as May's post.

Kirk, 31, was best known as the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organisation that rose to prominence on high school and college campuses. He was speaking to students at a university in Utah when someone opened fire at the school on Wednesday, according to officials.

A shot was fired at 12:20 local time as Kirk was taking a question from a student. Video shows him immediately collapse and blood can be seen on his neck.

Donald Trump confirmed the news on his social media platform Truth Social. He said: "The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.

"He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!"