This hacking joke landed Ricky Gervais in hot water

Ricky Gervais has been criticised for joking about the nude celebrity hacking case. Photo/Getty

British comedian Ricky Gervais has found himself under attack after cracking a joke about the celebrity nude photo hacking.

Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst and Aussie actress Teresa Palmer are among a slew of celebrities whose nude photos have been leaked online by a hacker.

The FBI is now investigating the alleged hacking, while lawyers for both Lawrence and Upton have threatened to prosecute anyone who posts the stolen snaps on the internet.

"This is a flagrant violation of privacy," Lawrence's publicist Liz Mahoney said. "The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence."

Gervais offered up his thoughts about the Hollywood scandal in a post on Twitter writing, "Celebrities, make it harder for hackers to get nude pics of you from your computer by not putting nude pics of yourself on your computer."

The tweet has since been deleted, but can be seen in the screen grab below:

Hackers, don't hack into people's private lives. Gervais, stop victim blaming. It was NOT JLaw's fault. pic.twitter.com/xqAzQUAa3t

However his attempt to make light of the situation only angered followers, with many taking aim at Gervais for appearing to blame the victims for the leak.

Gervais fired back at his detractors by making it clear he was not condoning the hacking.In a series of follow-up tweets, he wrote:

Making a joke about a thing doesn't mean you condone that thing.

Of course the hackers are 100% to blame but you can still makes jokes about it. Jokes don't portray your true serious feelings on a subject

It's more important to spend your energy trying to stop actual bad things than to run around trying to stop jokes about bad things.

Offence is the collateral damage of free speech.

Make jokes, not war.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter star Emma Watson and actress Patricia Arquette have followed in Lena Dunham's footsteps by condemning the hacker online and urging fans not to view the stolen snaps.

Even worse than seeing women's privacy violated on social media is reading the accompanying comments that show such a lack of empathy.

Every time someone opens a stolen intimate nude photo of anyone. They are becoming a sexual molester. Participating in a group molestation.

UR phone is your own property. Like anything in UR house. If someone broke in and stole something it would be illegal. It's the same.

Please explain why it is alright to look at someones private stolen intimate images?

- WENN