The NRA have photoshopped white Ku Klux Klan hoods onto Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends in protest at plans to diversify the show.

Dana Loesch shared the bizarre graphic on the pro-gun lobby’s NRA TV network while discussing the introduction of a new Kenyan loco called Nia. She mocked up the scene then joked that it proved Thomas and Friends is racist.

Loesch’s criticism centers on her assertion that the existing trains do not have an ethnicity, and thus do not need to be made more diverse.

The photoshopped graphic showing Thomas with his friends Percy and James in KKK hoods (Picture: NRA TV)
The introduction of Nia the Kenyan loco prompted an angry outburst from Loesch (Picture: Mattel Creations)

The pro-Second Amendment host accused the show’s makers of stopping in ‘Virtue town’, and said: ‘This is horrible…

‘Thomas the Tank is now bringing gender balance to the show by adding girl trains.

‘Seriously. One of those trains, Nia, will be from Kenya to add ethnic diversity to the show

‘And … which that by the way, that’s where it gets really strange to me because I’ve looked at Thomas and Friends, at their pictures, and I see gray and blue.

‘Am I to understand this entire time that Thomas and his trains were white? Because they all have gray faces. How do you bring ethnic diversity?’

After the KKK graphic was shown, Loesch joked that the fictional outfits and burning tracks Thomas, Percy and James were shown chugging along proved that the children’s TV show is racist.

Loesch continued: ‘OK, fine, fair point. Fair. I get it.

‘Thomas the Tank Engine has been a blight on race relations for far too long. Clearly this is overdue. Right.’

Loesch hit the headlines after facing off against gun-control advocates in the wake of the February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17.

The latest series of Thomas will see the famous engine and his friends travel and explore the world.

A spokesperson for Thomas told Metro.co.uk: ‘For more than 70 years, Thomas & Friends has delivered life lessons about friendship and teamwork to young children.

‘At Mattel, insuring our brands promote a message of inclusivity and kindness has always been a priority.

‘We are not associated with images that promote hate and denounce any images of our brands that are being used to convey a message not in line with the values of the company.’