Columnist Kelvin MacKenzie has had his contract with The Sun “terminated by mutual consent”.
Confirmation of the decision came after criticism over an opinion piece in which MacKenzie compared the Everton footballer Ross Barkley to a gorilla.
News UK, owned by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch, confirmed MacKenzie’s fate on Monday.
Murdoch is in the process of a multi-billion pound bid for broadcaster Sky - a bid which media commentators have said may have informed its decision to sack MacKenzie.
MacKenzie’s “termination” draws to a close a controversial career at the red top paper.
MacKenzie was editor of The Sun during the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster when it published a front-page article headlined “Hillsborough: The Truth” in the aftermath of the 1989 disaster at Sheffield Wednesday’s football stadium.
The article claimed Liverpool fans were to blame for the tragedy.
An inquiry last year found the claims to be completely false and that the 96 people who died had been unlawfully killed.
MacKenzie apologised in 2012.
But the Barkley column was published just one day before the anniversary of the Disaster.
And The Sun continues to be boycotted in Liverpool - with both the city’s Champions League clubs banning journalists from the paper.
In 2016, MacKenzie used his column to criticise Channel 4 News presenter Fatima Manji for wearing a hijab while reporting the Nice terror attacks.
Last month, MacKenzie told The New York Times his “ultimate fantasy headline” would be: “Jeremy Corbyn Knifed By Asylum Seeker”.