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Hasbulla Magomedov gained massive popularity after becoming a brand ambassador of the UFC.
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However, the influencer came under fire as fans watched him yank and hit his cat in a now-deleted video.
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The influencer responded to growing backlash last week, saying his cat is “feeling good.”
The Russian influencer Hasbulla Magomedov, or more commonly known as Hasbulla, is defending himself after fans accused him of abusing an animal in a now-deleted clip.
In the short clip, originally posted to the 19-year-old’s YouTube channel last week, the influencer can be seen pulling at a cat’s ear before hitting the animal several times (content warning: the footage can be distressing for some viewers).
On Thursday, as backlash and concern grew, Magomedov responded with a video speaking in a local Dagestan dialect, saying his cat is “feeling good.” On Friday, the influencer posted another video claiming he pulled his cat’s ear “gently” and that he was punishing her for “misbehaving.”
Magomedov is wildly popular on Instagram, with over 8 million subscribers. His earliest posts date back to late 2021, but he rose to cosmic fame over the last year after multiple collaborations with the UFC and NELK, the popular YouTube prank group. Magomedov is partly known for his achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism that gives him the appearance of a young child.
The controversial video was posted last Tuesday as a YouTube Short before it was deleted. The video gained a litany of concern and criticism on both UFC and cat community Reddit forums, although most posts have also since been taken down by moderators.
“He acts the same way he acts around fighters, hitting and kicking people he barely knows,” one Redditor commented; “Disgusting. People like this have no soul,” someone else said.
As more people watched the clip, backlash also moved onto other platforms, like Twitter. Many users have called his actions abusive and are viscerally angered by them. Many are also not accepting his statements justifying his alleged abuse.
Some, however, felt the amount of moral outrage was excessive. “Bruh this 40lbs mf is not doing harm,” one user tweeted. “The cat is literally chilling thinking he’s petting it or smth.”
“If he does that on camera imagine what he does to it off,” one user wrote in response to Magomedov claiming his cat is fine.
Insider has reached out to Hasbulla for comment.
Read the original article on Insider
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