Was Donald Trump fan Clint Eastwood just a little bit racist?

In the immortal words of Alan Gordon Partridge: "Ooh, ya daft racist."

With the US election now in full swing, gone are the days that xenophobia or casual racism is reserved to the Facebook posts of your elderly relatives, or the toxic burblings of Nigel Farage.

Now, in a topsy-turvy political realm whereby America's first black President might actually be replaced by its first orange one, eye-wincing soundbites are coming out the mouths of our childhood heroes.

We'd love to say it wasn't so, but it seems Dirty Harry is a bit of a bigot.

In an interview with US Esquire, Clint Eastwood has waged war on "political correctness", claiming we're living in a "kiss-ass generation ... a pussy generation."

Eastwood reckons Donald Trump - the man who has besmirched Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants, women and many more - has "said a lot of dumb things", but levies blame not at The Donald, rather those that feel his views are inappropriate.

"[T]he press and everybody's going, "Oh, well, that's racist," and they're making a big hoodoo out of it," Eastwood said. "Just fucking get over it. It's a sad time in history."

And, in a manoeuvre direct from the 'Back In My Day' playbook, Eastwood added the flourish: "Everybody's walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist."

Of course, this isn't the first time the Western icon has been embroiled in political controversy. During 2012's Republican conference, Eastwood staged a baffling mock interview with President Obama, with the role of the President played by a wooden stool.

Call us hypocrites - Harry Callahan's penchant to raise a middle finger to the rules was precisely what we loved about him - however Eastwood's latest role upsets us even more than Gran Torino.