Captain America star Anthony Mackie in race row after 'dreadlocks make you look like a criminal' comment

Captain America actor Anthony Mackie has come under fire after claiming that having dreadlocks encourages racial profiling.

The 36-year-old African-American actor made the controversial remarks during a recent interview with The Grio, where he discussed race issues and how difficult it is to crack Hollywood as a black actor. He even touched on the apparent snubbing of civil rights film, Selma, at this year's Oscars.

"Hollywood believes that there's no market overseas for black actors," he told Chris Witherspoon. "They say that about Denzel Washington, they say they have no foreign value. If we're not financing and doing our own stories, we can't expect to see ourselves come award season."

In a bid to explain the police brutality against black men including Mike Brown and Eric Garner, he claimed that something as simple as a hair style can affect how you are perceived.

"Like my nephew wanted to grow dreadlocks. I'm like fine, I'll sit you down and I'll watch 'The First 48′ with you and everybody you see on that show, that's doing something wrong, they're black dudes with dreadlocks. So, do you want to be seen as part of the problem or do you want to be an individual?"

Mackie added: "Let's just say you have locks and you walking down the street. The police pull you over and say you fit the description of somebody. You start yelling and arguing with the cops. Next thing you know you pressed up against the wall going to jail for something you're not even involved in just because you look like somebody and you don't know how to handle yourself."

His remarks did not go down well with social media users and members of the black community, with some critics branding him a "House Negro" and accusing him of self-hate.

Meanwhile, Mackie has been busy promoting his new film Black or White, which stars Kevin Costner as a white grandfather raising his bi-racial granddaughter after the death of his daughter.

He has not responded to the backlash.