A poster depicting President Barack Obama as The Joker has divided opinion on the internet – some say it’s “dangerous”, others say there’s nothing wrong with a little free speech.

Earl Ofari, president of The Urban Policy Roundtable in Los Angeles — where the poster first appeared late last month — is one Democrat voicing his opposition.

“Depicting the President as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery,” he said. “It is mean-spirited and dangerous.”

This isn’t the first time the comic book villain’s image has been used for a political message. In 2008, Vanity Fair Magazine ran a similar image of President Bush as The Joker.