Emma Watson receives vicious Twitter messages over Alan Rickman tribute

Emma Watson has been accused of exploiting the death of Harry Potter co-star Alan Rickman in vicious Twitter messages.

The actress paid tribute to the actor with a picture that featured Rickman's face overlaid with his quotation from March 2015 that expressed his strongly-held feminist beliefs.

But trolls attacked the actress, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, for the tribute in hateful tweets.

"Emma, you are a repugnant human being using his death to push your agenda," one wrote.

Another tweeted: "Wow, you're using the death of your friend to push your agenda. That's actually horrible."

One post called Watson's tribute, "tacky, classless, tactless, disgusting behaviour".

Another user wrote: "He's not even cold and you're using him to fuel the feminist agenda bandwagon? Not impressed."

Watson played Hermione Granger in Harry Potter. Credit: PA Wire

However, many fans showed their support for the 25-year-old, urging her not to listen to the "hate".

Watson is yet to respond to the messages.