After actor/comedian Mike Epps was berated for bringing a very real and very alive kangaroo on stage during a performance in Detroit last Friday (March 31), he quickly defended his decision, saying the animal was “just doing his thing.”
Several people, however, didn’t find the humor in it and, in fact, accused Epps of animal cruelty and tried to bring it to the attention of PETA. The kangaroo reportedly belonged to Javon Stacks, who runs a traveling zoo and assured people the animal was unharmed, according to TMZ. Epps captioned his defense in a since-deleted Instagram post with the hashtags “#iloveanimals” and “#nevertriedtohurthim.”
It seems Epps has changed his tune over the weekend and since delivered an apology. In a nearly two-minute video posted by TMZ, Epps explained, “I made a bad decision. I made a bad move. I’m always on TMZ. I make mistakes all the time. When it comes to animals, man, I’m an animal lover.
“[The stunt] just made me look bad, man,” he added. “Like I said, I apologize to all my fans and to everybody out there who seen this. It was bad on my part and it will never happen again.”
Epps assured his fans and the general public he would be making a donation to a kangaroo humane foundation. He also expressed his regret in another Instagram post. Check out his apology above as well as the initial incident and comments he made after he came under attack.
BACK TRACKIN’ NEGRO!!!! SMH!!!!
Better he did than continue to defend this ignorant act.
It wasn’t ignorant he loves animals and wanted to hype up the show the audience loved it he didn’t beat the animal kick or hurt or give em drugs liquor or beer he enjoyed the fact he even got to touch the beautiful creature it was blown out of proportion n taken out of context Mr. Epps is a great Man Father and Comedian and he loves his Grandmother n she taught him about respect n dignity that’s why he gave the interview to let his fans know that if society thinks he is wrong then he is Man enough to stand up n out for what is right for humanity n Animal rights my GOD BLESS HIM n his blossoming Career in Jesus Name Amen
Yooooo is grandma epps!!!
I agree he meant no harm and Epps is a good dude- but either way it was a bad move, that kangaroo was terrified and if they didn’t realize having some stranger to the animal run after him on stage in front of thousands of people wouldn’t scare that animal then they are dumber then i thought
The Kangaroo is way more intelligent then this ignorant jig.
The kangaroo has stage fright.
Even a kangaroo can’t save this clowns show…
I dont c the big fuckin deal. He brought a kangaroo on stage SO FUCKIN WHAT! Aint it a silly ass rapper who always has a fuckin poodle! Muthafuckas blow shit up more than it needs 2 b. I thought the shit was funny
What Epps did was stupid and cruel, and an apology doesn’t go far enough. He should answer for this stunt–and come up with a new routine, one that’s funny.
Yikes, this was an epic fail on Epps’ behalf. Did he miss the news about Ringling? No one finds abusing animals entertaining, dude.
“Doing his thing”? A kangaroo’s “thing” is not being on stage in front of a noisy crowd or being forced to walk down a busy street on a leash. Apologies mean little to the kangaroo who was traumatized. I hope that Epps has learned his lesson and that other performers will take heed and refrain from exploiting animals on stage for ANY reason or event. I also hope that the owner of Exotic Zoos is punished to the fullest extent of the law.
No one’s laughing at this cruel (and really rather pathetic) stunt. Animals deserve to be left in peace.
Man it aint that serious…wish people where that up in arms about these missing girls or the bullsh**trump doing….
Exactly! Bill O’rally and Fox News paying millions to these females to dop charges, meanwhile the try to get bill Cosby .
LMFAO wow. So this article makes it look like it wasn’t that bad…but if you really know animals at all you can tell right away that animal is not in a good place. Then to force him to go in the opposite direction he wants to go, pick him up, have people dancing around him facing a loud crowd with lights etc. He really fucked up with this one and clearly didn’t have a plan b.
Yeah , but sea world got Dolphins and whales ..held in fucking tiny ass fish tanks !! Every time a black do some shit , muthafuckas wanna jump down his throat