Actor Dennis Quaid says the whole animal abuse scandal around his 2017 movie "A Dog's Purpose" was a "scam". In his new podcast "The Pet Show", the two-time Golden Globe nominee addressed the scandal about his 2017 film, reports dailymail.co.uk.
He said that accusations of animal abuse on the set of the film, which forced them to cancel the red carpet premiere, were "a scam". The 66-year-old was referring to a video released back in January of 2017, which appeared to show that the German Shepherd named Hercules was resisting during a scene in the water.
The Actor Recounts The Incident
"What happened was the dog jumps into the water... there were divers, scuba divers, three of them, underneath the water. One of the trainers reached down to give the dog a rest and he pulled him up, and it looks like he's pulling him up and choking him by the collar," the actor recounted. "What it doesn't show, is that there's a table right below the dog, so the dog can rest his feet on the table. He's not just being held up," he added.
He also responded to a video that showed the dog struggling to get out of the pool, before sinking below the water, and said the dog "goes under and that's where the guy cuts".
'The Dog Loved It'
'Well there were two divers waiting for him right there, it wasn't even a second and a half. They lifted him up, handed him to the trainer right by the pool and the dog didn't even wait to get a collar on, he ran right to the other side of the pool to do it again. He loved it," said Quaid.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a third-party investigation found that "preventative safety measures were in place", and stated that the videos were "deliberately edited to mislead the public". Quaid later went on to star in the sequel "A Dog's Journey", which released in 2019.
