Michael Bay has furiously hit back at reports claiming he had been charged over the death of a pigeon in Italy while filming his Netflix movie 6 Underground.
Hollywood news website The Wrap first published the claims on Thursday that Bay had been charged by Italian authorities after a homing pigeon was allegedly struck by a dolly while the director was shooting in Rome in 2018.
The Wrap claimed that an “unnamed individual” had recorded the incident and shown it to Italian authorities, who charged Bay under legislation which makes it illegal to kill, capture or trade any wild bird – including pigeons.
But on Sunday Bay’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, called the Wrap’s reporting “false, reckless, and defamatory”, saying that the story implied Bay was charged with killing the bird himself and demanded an immediate retraction or correction.
“As you know, Mr Bay was never accused, much less ‘charged’ with ‘killing’ an animal,” the letter, released to Variety, reads.
Rosengart claimed that the Wrap had been provided with “video evidence rebutting these allegations and demonstrating that at no time was any animal harmed, let alone ‘killed’”.
Instead, Bay has been charged over “concerns whether, in his capacity as the film’s director, Mr Bay failed to properly supervise crew members (whom he did not even have the ability to hire) responsible for handling the animals on set”.
The charge is being “vigorously defended”, Rosengart added.
“Mr Bay feels so strongly that … he refused to settle the case even for the nominal fine that was proposed by authorities to resolve it,” he wrote, claiming that the Wrap story had “tarnished [Bay’s] reputation as someone who fiercely supports animals, financially and otherwise, causing him extreme anguish”.
In a statement originally given to the Wrap, Bay called himself a “well-known animal lover and major animal activist”.
“No animal involved in the production was injured or harmed. Or on any other production I’ve worked on in the past 30 years. I would not plead guilty to having harmed an animal,” the blockbuster film-maker said, declining to provide any more specific details due to “an ongoing court case”.
“We have clear video evidence, a multitude of witnesses, and safety officers that exonerates us from these claims and disproves their one paparazzi photo – which gives a false story,” he said.
The Wrap has since edited its initial article to add the disclaimer: “It’s not entirely clear whether a pigeon perished, or not.” It has yet to publicly respond to Rosengart’s letter.
6 Underground is an action thriller starring Ryan Reynolds as the head of a vigilante squad targeting criminals around the world. It was released on Netflix in 2019.
Netflix has declined to comment on the claims.
This is not the first time a pigeon has stirred controversy in Italy. In 2016, a celebrity chef prepared a dish involving pigeon meat on MasterChef Italy – inciting outrage from animal rights activists, who accused him of breaking the law. No action was taken.
