Daniel Friedman, also known as comedian Deep Fried Man, has been dismissed from his position as digital news editor at The Citizen.

"After an internal disciplinary hearing, chaired by an independent labour law practitioner, The Citizen received the recommendation to dismiss Daniel Friedman from his position as the publication's digital news editor," the paper said in a statement on its website.

"The publication believes this recommendation was not arrived at lightly and we have treated it with the seriousness it deserves."

The Citizen's management has accepted the recommendation.

"The chairperson concluded that Friedman's social media remarks against three individuals, as well as numerous details about the circumstances and context of his tweet, exhibited misconduct and unprofessionalism, and that his utterances had brought the publication into disrepute."

Friedman had been under fire for a satirical video he made about white genocide in 2015. More recently, as Deep Fried Man, he tweeted that Freedom Front Plus supporters were all racists.

He had also engaged in public spats with vlogger Willem Petzer, who describes himself as a "Boer" in his Twitter bio. Friedman also wrote exposés about right-wing-related websites.

In March 2019, Friedman was a panellist at an Ahmed Kathrada Foundation event exploring the rise of right-wing racism, its reach within South Africa and its impact.

Charles Cilliers, digital editor at The Citizen, would not provide any further details on Friedman's dismissal.

Friedman is the son of political analyst and newspaper columnist Steven Friedman.