‘This happened to my dad… it’s not a thing for jokes’
appears to carry mock beheading.
He has now apologised for his actions, saying that they were “misinterpreted”.
He insisted he was just “larking” about before his performance at an arena concert in the United Arab Emirates.
He said: “From re-enacting the Beatles’ Abbey Road crossing to spontaneously playing out Game Of Thrones, we were simply larking about pre-show.
“Understandably this has been misinterpreted and I send my deepest apologies to those who have been offended.”
Beirut hostage ordeal survivor John McCarthy said Sir Rod had turned “a grotesque thing into a kind of pantomime”.
Journalist Mr McCarthy, kidnapped in Lebanon in 1986, said victims’ relatives would be “sickened” if the star was making light of their plight.
He said: “Your blood runs cold just imagining what it must be like to be in that situation in the last moments of your life or, indeed, as relatives to see that.”
Bethany, of Scone, near Perth, out the whose father David Haines, 44, was beheaded in September 2014 by IS executioner “Jihadi John”, said: “This actually happened to my dad and it’s not something to joke about.”
“I think it’s disgraceful that a celebrity who is thought of as a role model would do this sort of thing.
“There are some things that are funny but that isn’t.”
Mr Haines’ widow, his second wife Dragana, 47, said she was “appalled” by Stewart’s “sick” humour, adding: “I really wonder if he would find it funny if he lost his loved one in such a vicious and ‘Disgraceful’... Bethany and her father David who was murdered in the desert savage way.” Mrs Haines added: “Instead of putting his time and effort into a cheap laugh at other people’s expense, Rod should be putting his efforts into helping the people affected by what’s happened in Syria and everyone who has been affected by Islamic State.”
Other snaps on Ms Lancaster’s Instagram account show her enjoying life in the sun while on tour with her husband.
Clearly relishing the sunshine, Penny posted a picture of herself relaxing on the sand with her husband alongside the caption “sandy afternoons”.
The couple, who have been married for nearly 10 years, were smiling broadly as they snuggled up together.
They have two children together and married in 2007.
Sir Rod has been performing in Abu Dhabi as part of his world tour and takes to the stage in Las Vegas and Mexico City later this month.
He is the closing headliner at this year’s Isle of Wight festival, in June.
He also recently London’s O2 Arena.
He travelled to the gig by train and underground – with Ms Lancaster documenting the journey on
Instagram. played