Viewers are enraged by ITV’s Good Morning Britain commentator Alice Plunkett ‘defending’ equestrian Charlotte Dujardin from backlash surrounding a video of the Olympian whipping a horse.
Dujardin has been forced to withdraw from Team GB for the upcoming Olympics after a video – shown for the first time on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday – showing her whipping the back of a horses legs repeatedly during training was revealed.
The 39-year-old, who is Britain’s joint-most decorated female Olympian, has now been banned for six months by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) and will not appear at the Paris games.
In a statement about the controversy, Dujardin said she made an ‘error of judgement’ and is ‘deeply ashamed’ of her actions.
During the discussion of the video on GMB, Richard Madeley asked Alice Plunkett: ‘Is Dujardin finished?’
Plunkett responded: ‘I think, one thing I want to – she will be hung drawn and quartered on social media. This will be her defining legacy and I just want people to remember in the middle of this there is a human being.’
Viewers quickly took to social media to share their anger at what they saw as Plunkett’s attempt to defend the Olympian.
User @queenofwands89 wrote: ‘#Dujardin why is everybody defending her? Saying that she doesn’t treat her horses like that at home and saying she’s an animal lover ! Clearly NOT! #gmb while she obviously does she just hasn’t been caught yet!!!! Strip the medals ! #AnimalAbuse ‘
@tighabhinn posted: ‘”She regularly thrashes her horses but she’s a very nice lady really” says the posh equestrian. #GMB (She’s been invited onto the GMB and refuses to look at or address the video) #GMB’
Many viewers felt that Plunkett was attempting to excuse Dujardin’s behaviour, with @JamesDawson911 writing: ‘#gmb stop fkn defending her Jesus christ, there’s no excuse for whipping a horse in this manner PERIOD? For all we know, this is how she trains/abuses horses all the time?’
@surayyamakda posted: ‘#gmb Alice,yes there’s a human involved in this but what about these poor horses that are involved,do they not matter?’
@tina50682247 wrote: ‘Did I just hear Alice say, “remember in the middle of this there is a human being”?? What about the horse or horses she’s done this to before!!!!. Absolutely fuming 😡’
@shelster put it simply, writing: ‘It seemed very much like Alice was defending these actions. There is no defence.’
@robjonesphotography quoted Plunkett, writing: ‘“Let’s not forget there’s a human being in the middle of this”. Shame she didn’t think the same way about the horse!!!! 😡😡😡😡’
‘This lady is defending the sport but in doing so, defending Dujardin. Not good enough. There is always a human being behind animal abuse, child abuse, domestic abuse, etc. Social media is slaughtering her because they see her “casually” abusing whilst the animal looks distressed.’
In addition to the backlash online, a complaint of animal cruelty has been filed against Dujardin by Stephan Wensing, a Dutch equine lawyer, this week.
Wensing is acting on behalf of an anonymous client and revealed that in the video – which was recorded during a training session in the UK – Dujardin ‘hit the horse many times’ in an attempt to get it to ‘lift its legs further.’
In an accompanying letter sent to the FEI, the video is said to show Dujardin ‘beating a horse excessively with a whip.’
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