Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Huntsman filmed hurling body-shaming slurs at activist and shouting ‘go back to McDonald’s’

A video shows two members of Warwickshire Hunt howling with laughter as one calls a female activist ‘fatty’

Adam Dutton
Wednesday 30 November 2022 13:59 EST
Comments
Warwickshire huntsman tells activist to 'go back to McDonald's'

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A huntsman has been accused of bullying after he was filmed repeatedly calling a female activist “fatty” and telling her to “go back to McDonald’s”.

West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs accused the unnamed huntsman of “cruel body-shaming” the animal rights protester who was filming them.

A video shows two members of Warwickshire Hunt howling with laughter after one shouts: “No fatty, stop it, go back to McDonald’s”.

During the four-minute clip, which was filmed on October 22 in Admington, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warkwickshire, the woman is called “fatty” 28 times.

During the hunt, the leading huntsman rounds on the woman again, and says: “Follow the golden arches, McDonald’s is that way.

“Don’t touch the horse, I bet you haven’t touched something so thin for a long time.”

He then turns to another huntsman and says: “Watch out, she bites, she’s hungry. She can’t run, if she does we’ll probably have a coronary on our hands.”

Another younger member of the hunt can be heard telling the activist: “Last time I saw you, you were on that weight watchers diet, how’s that going?”

He later goads the woman, saying: “Come on fatty run. She’s on a weightwatchers diet, she should be running.”

While hooting with laughter, he then shouts to other members of the hunt: “She’ll get beached like a whale.”

Following the hunt, the saboteurs confront the huntsmen but are met with a volley of abuse.

One saboteur asks: “Do you think it’s acceptable to body shame people and bully people? Do you?”

The younger man then appears to lose his cool and screams: “Get out of my face! You have been warned.”

The saboteur tells the man: “Calm down. Over privileged cry babies. You give it the biggen and when someone stands up to you, you cry like a little baby.”

A spokesperson for West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs said: “This is the video the Warwickshire Hunt don’t want you to see.

“The comments made by members of the Warwickshire Hunt towards one of our group are totally unacceptable and amount to body shaming and bullying.

“It is completely vile. It wasn’t a one-off comment, this was a coordinated and sustained verbal attack.

“It is a snapshot of what we have to put up with every week and shows what the Warwickshire Hunt are like when faced with people with opposing views.

“We challenge the Warwickshire Hunt to take a stand against bullying and issue a public apology to us.

“If this was any other organisation in any other sphere of life the perpetrators would have been booted out of the organisation.

“By not taking such action we must assume that the Warwickshire Hunt agrees with and endorses this kind of behaviour.”

SWNS has contacted Warwickshire Hunt for comment but has not received a response.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in