Riverdale star KJ Apa has opened up about receiving death threats for being involved in A Dog’s Purpose, the international film that hit headlines earlier this year after “leaked” footage showed a dog being thrown into a river for a scene.
The video, which quickly sparked allegations of animal abuse on the part of the film crew, was later investigated and found to be fake – but the news came too late to stop the torrent of criticism levelled at the movie as a result of the footage.
“As soon as that came out, I was getting a lot of s—t for it on social media, even death threats,” KJ told Fairfax of the reaction to the video.
“I didn’t even work with that dog.”
The footage, which was originally released online through TMZ, saw animal rights group PETA calling for a boycott, a claim which was later taken up by several celebrities.
At the time, KJ was forced to make a statement about the movie on social media, saying he would “never EVER condone inhumane treatment or abuse of an animal at any time”.
“I want you guys to know that I would NEVER attach myself to a project that didn’t treat animals with the utmost care, and honestly, the possibility that an animal could’ve been hurt is troubling to me,” he continued.
The investigation of the video later found it had been “deliberately edited for the purpose of misleading the public and stoking public outrage”.
