The Cape wine industry has distanced itself from a man who posted a racist meme about the death of Joost van der Westhuizen on Facebook.

Social media was abuzz after Riaan Lucas, apparently from Johannesburg, posted the meme soon after the announcement of the former Springbok rugby player’s death on Monday.

Lucas wrote: “Joost is vrek” (Joost is dead) with the meme that reads, “Me when I hear a white man has died. RIP Joost” on a picture of actor Tobey Maguire pulling a face.

Lucas has closed his Facebook account, but his profile showed that he had been a sales manager at the South African Wine Institute, Netwerk24 reported.

According to his profile, he is originally from Cape Town and studied at the Cape Wine Academy.

The academy confirmed on Facebook on Tuesday that Lucas had studied there in 2011 and distanced itself from his comments.

The Institute of Cape Wine Masters also said on Facebook on Tuesday that they have no relationship with Lucas and that he no longer worked at the institute.