Arsenal’s owner removes hunt footage

Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has ordered his controversial subscription television channel, My Outdoor TV, to remove all hunting of big-game animals following a huge public backlash.

MOTV is an American TV channel, which launched in the UK last weekend at the Game Fair in Hertfordshire as an online app and described as “the Netflix of the hunting world”.

Some of the content prompted outrage, however, after it showed a number of big-game animals, including elephants and lions, being hunted and killed.

The club’s manager Arsene Wenger was even asked about the controversy at yesterday’s weekly press conference. A statement pointed out that the channel has nothing directly to do with Arsenal but that the club’s owner has asked for all hunting of big-game animals to be removed. The channel is owned by Outdoor Sportsman Group, which is part of Kroenke Sport Entertainment. KSE also owns around 67 per cent of Arsenal.

“There has been significant public attention to a small portion of programming on our Myoutdoortv app that contains content associated with hunting certain big-game animals,” said Jim Liberatore, president and CEO of Outdoor Sportsman Group. “While many on both sides of this issue have made their voices heard, and this content is only available through paid subscriptions, Stan Kroenke has directed us to remove all content related to those animals.”

Liberatore defended the ethics of the programme and its independence from its owners. He added: “Arsenal Football Club has nothing to do with any of our media outlets. It has nothing to do with our content or the editorial decisions. ”