The Office US star Leslie David Baker says racism has ‘gotten worse’ after receiving hateful messages on social media.

The star shared the messages, which were sparked as he attempts to create a spin-off show of The Office, on Instagram this week and accompanied the post by saying: “Bigotry and hate will not be allowed to irradicate art or Black people."

Baker, who played Stanley Hudson, was speaking to USA Today about racism in the US: "Racism doesn't care whether or not you're an actor on TV or if you won awards. This is something that faces minorities on any job, not just because they're in show business.

"We're living in an age in time where there is this movement. We would have thought that these issues would have been rectified years, decades ago. They have not. As a matter of fact, they've gotten worse."

He added the only way the issue can be resolved is if society openly confronts it.

"You cannot fight racism and combat those types of stereotypical attitudes if you pretend that they don't exist.

"All too often in America, people have been so concerned about being made to feel uncomfortable because they aren't confronted by racist behavior."

Last month, Baker created a Kickstarter page in hopes of crowdfunding the spin-off. At the time of writing Uncle Stan: Coming Out of Retirement has 1,640 donors who have raised $336,450.