Cartoons of Scottish politicians used to promote a BBC Radio Scotland comedy show have been axed following a furious social media backlash.

The clips from Noising Up were even criticised by Christina McKelvie, the Scottish Government's Culture Minister. 

One of the now-deleted short animations, shared on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, dubbed Scottish Green co-convenor Lorna Slater as "Limo Lorna".

A cartoon of the Canadian MSP said she was the "minister for green skills, circular economy, biodiversity, short-haul flights and maple syrup".

The character added: "Join me for my new streaming series, Lorna Slater's Great Green Limousine Journeys, where I'll be changing my climate from Holyrood to stretched limo on a 3,000-mile taxpayer-funded journey around Scotland."

The joke was a reference to Ms Slater chartering a private boat for a visit to the Isle of Rum earlier this year at a cost of £1,200.

READ MORE: Green Lorna Slater branded 'shameless' as private boat cost revealed

Taking to Twitter, Ms McKelvie said the Comedy Unit produced show's joke about her government colleague was "dreadful".

A Scottish Green source told the Sun, the cartoon was "borderline misogynistic" and even risked putting the politician in danger. 

They said: "Nobody wants to be po-faced when it comes to satire, and the BBC has a good track record on that with things like Have I Got News For You."

However, they said the joke about their politician was "incredibly ill-judged and far, far beneath the standards you’d expect of a public broadcaster."

They added: "It's borderline misogynistic, inaccurate, and above all, stoking the kind of rhetoric that potentially puts public figures at real risk of harm.

"It also shakes faith in any trust of the BBC at a time when it already faces many criticisms over its political coverage which is particularly hard for the many excellent journalists working there."

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon sets up 'artistic creation' company after book deal

On Wednesday BBC Scotland admitted the posts had not worked "as intended".

A spokesperson for the corporation said: "Noising Up is a satire-led programme on Radio Scotland, and radio sketch satire has been missing for over a decade in Scotland.

"We believe satire has a role to play within public discourse and it is important that it has its place within Scotland's political and cultural landscape.

"Animations of four of Scotland's party leaders were created to support the programme with the intent of helping it reach a new and wider audience.

"It became clear over the weekend that the animations were not working as intended and having reflected on the reaction we have made the decision to remove them from social media while we review their use and assess the programme's social media presence."

While the cartoon has been taken offline, the show remains available on BBC Sounds, and the next episode of Noising Off is due to be broadcast on Friday.