American billionaire and Arsenal club owner Stan Kroenke has recently come under fire in the UK after headlines revealed the launch of his new TV channel “My Outdoor TV”.
MOTV has been touted as the Netflix of trophy hunting; a pay-for-subscription plan which features a selection of hunting programs to watch online.
Following the announcement a petition has been drawn calling for Arsenal’s sponsors to push Stan Kroenke out of the club. The petition has already reached over 66,000 signatures and the pressure for Kroenke to stand down is very much ‘on’.
Promoting animal torture for fun shouldn’t be part of the beautiful game #KroenkeOut Petition https://t.co/H6qFqngTa9 via @UKChange
— Rachel Riley (@RachelRileyRR) August 1, 2017
According to an article by The Independent, leading figures across television, sports and even politics have branded the channel ‘sickening’ and ‘disgusting’, thus calling for a ban. This includes Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who said “I’m appalled at the glorification of killing wild and rare animals on this TV channel.”
In addition, Kevin Pieteren, former cricketer, believes that “those who contribute and support those practices, are scum” .
“I find it sickening that anyone could want to endanger these animals whatsoever, but for someone to turn it into a TV show for entertainment absolutely boils my blood. The guy, and those who contribute and support those practices, are scum.”
“Enough is enough. These stunning animals are being slaughtered to the point of extinction and for anyone to celebrate it is absolutely repugnant.”
Pietersen claimed that he’s “had so many messages from Arsenal fans telling me they hate him as much as anyone, so if that’s the case, he has to be driven out. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want this person representing something I love. These animals don’t have a voice, but we do. If we don’t do anything, no-one will.”
Comedian Ricky Gervais, along with a number of other influential Brits have joined Pietersen and Corbyn in slamming MOTV, but Mr Kroenke and Arsenal are yet to comment on the issue. Previously a spokesman for the channel told the Independent: “MOTV will present ethical, fair chase hunting and as long as it’s legal it will be on there. If you like hunting elephants, there will be legal elephant hunts, ethical elephant hunts, shown in that context.”
#ThrowbackThursday ~ “Spot The Typo” as @RickyGervais sums up @MelissaBachman PERFECTLY!!#BanTrophyHunting #BanCannedHunting pic.twitter.com/HsuoG4hMCZ
— PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE (@Protect_Wldlife) August 3, 2017
Opposition to the channel argue that there is no such thing as ethical trophy hunting and strongly dispute the claims that the sport is in any way helpful to the conservation of endangered animals or their ecosystems.
If you oppose to trophy hunting and want to help stop the launch of MOTV, you can show your support by signing the petition here.
Image Credit: Mirror
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