Actor James Nesbitt has been targeted with graffiti in County Antrim, Northern Ireland (Picture: Getty Images for The Moet British Independent Film Awards)

Menacing graffiti targeting Northern Irish actor James Nesbitt is being treated by police as a hate crime.

A threatening message targeting the Cold Feet actor was daubed on a wall in the predominantly unionist town of Portrush in Co Antrim.

It read: ‘1x king, 1x crown, no Pope in our town James Nesbitt.’

The message appeared weeks after the OBE holder was the keynote speaker at an Ireland’s Future event in Dublin organised by a campaign group advocating for a united Ireland.

A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: ‘Police in Coleraine received a report of graffiti on a wall in the Bushmills Road area of Portrush on Wednesday 19th October.

‘The graffiti is believed to have been written on the wall some time between 5pm on Tuesday and 7.30pm on Wednesday evening and is being treated as a hate crime.’

Officers have asked anyone with information to come forward.

The actor was born in Northern Ireland and considers himself Irish (Picture: Getty Images)

The graffiti has been condemned by local political representatives from both Unionist and Republican parties, with DUP MP Gregory Campbell saying Nesbitt should be free to express his views.

‘Jimmy Nesbitt is a local lad who has invested in his own community,’ Campbell said. ‘Those painting threatening graffiti such as this should stop. Their actions are wrong and to be condemned.

He added that he ‘fundamentally disagrees’ with Nesbitt’s belief in a united Ireland, ‘but he has every right to express his political views in whatever forum he wishes. He should be able to do so free from fear.’

The MP went on to take a jab at Republican party Sinn Féin, saying it is ‘they believed you could justify violence at the same time as doing politics.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell, pictured here with former leader Arlene Foster, condemned the graffiti (Picture: Getty Images)

‘We must be consistent in always opposing violence as well as any threat of violence and attempted intimidation.’

Sinn Féin MLA Caoimhe Archibald said the graffiti represented an attack on freedom of expression.

‘The appearance of threatening and sectarian graffiti directed at James Nesbitt in Portrush is disgusting,’ she said.

Police have confirmed they are treating the incident as a hate crime (Picture: WireImage)

‘These threats are an attack on the right to freedom of expression. They come only weeks after James Nesbitt addressed thousands of people in Dublin from right across the political spectrum to discuss the future of the island of Ireland.

‘This is clearly a sinister effort to silence debate and intimidate people from joining the discussion.’

She went on: ‘There is no place in society for the threats and hatred directed at James Nesbitt. Political leaders should stand shoulder to shoulder in opposition to these threats. Those responsible for this hate crime should be held to account.’

The renowned actor is best-known for appearing in drama Cold Feet, and more recently, Bloodlands (Picture: BBC/HTM Television)

Nesbitt, who grew up in Northern Ireland during the IRA bombing campaign, has had a long association with Troubles victims’ organisation, the Wave Trauma Centre.

A spokesman for the centre said: ‘As a patron of the WAVE Trauma Centre for over 20 years, Jimmy Nesbitt has been a true friend to victims and survivors right across Northern Ireland.

‘That speaks to his commitment to support those who have suffered so much during our violent past but yet are too often ignored.’

Nesbitt was born to a Unionist family but describes himself as ‘an Irishman, from the north of Ireland, who in no way refutes nor shies away from my Protestant culture.’

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He told The Irish Times in a 2021 interview that he holds both an Irish and British passport.

The Good Friday Agreement of 2001 allows anyone born in Northern Ireland to identify as British, Irish or both.

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The graffiti referenced the actor, as well as King Charles and the Pope.