Racist Christmas card ... University of Pennsylvania’s Phi Delta Theta fraternity is under fire for posing with a Beyonce sex doll. Picture: Facebook/Phi Delta Theta Source: Supplied

The University of Pennsylvania’s Phi Delta Theta sparked outrage on Sunday after sharing the controversial snap on their Facebook page.

The picture, since taken down, shows the predominantly white group of male students with a black blow-up doll.

Following a backlash, the students have apologised, saying the Beyoncé sex toy was meant as a joke gift at the group’s Secret Santa event.

Close up ... the Phi Delta Theta brothers have been called racist for posing with black a blow-up doll, which the frat claims is a Beyoncé sex toy. Picture: Facebook/Phi Delta Theta Source: Supplied

In a draft apology obtained by the The Daily Pennsylvanian, the embarrassed students said the doll was “distasteful” and “once removed from the packaging, it bore no semblance to the artist beyond skin colour adding to its offensive nature.”

The apology said “there were absolutely no prejudicial motivations behind the gift,” but acknowledged that “the absence of racial motivation is no justification for this act of poor judgment and the decision not to include a sex toy in a holiday picture should have been an easy one.”

Insulting ... the frat said the plastic toy was a Beyonce sex toy, but the doll bore no resemblance to the singer. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

After the picture was posted on Facebook, several organisations on and off campus, including the university’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, slammed the frat’s racism.

“Given the larger conversations and actions taking place in the country, there’s never been a worse time to do what they did,” Keishawn Johnson, president of Penn’s chapter of the NAACP, told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “It’s not just about police brutality, but about a society that puts a particular lens on African Americans.”

Mr Johnson was referring to the spate of police killings of unarmed black men in the US, including the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City.

Scene ... a building at the University of Pennsylvania. Picture: Wikimedia Commons Source: Supplied

All Phi Delta Theta frat activities have been suspended as the chapter’s parent organisation investigates.