Melissa Bachman's Lion Hunting Photo Controversy
Submission 40,235
Background
On September 30th, 2013, Minnesota-based TV show presenter Melissa Bachman shared a photo of her smiling and posing with a dead lion via Facebook and Twitter[1], adding "an incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion…what a hunt!"
Bachman's photo was initially met with positive feedback from her followers on Twitter, racking up nearly 500 retweets and 240 favorites, though the tone of the reception began to change rapidly on November 15th, when the British comedian Ricky Gervais retweeted Bachman's photo with a cleverly-phrased insult calling her a derogatory slur (shown below).
“MelissaBachman</a>: incredible day in South Africa! Stalked this male lion...what a hunt! <a href="http://t.co/Gerc9AfmGo">pic.twitter.com/Gerc9AfmGo</a>” spot the typo</p>— Ricky Gervais (rickygervais) November 14, 2013
That same day, Elan Burman from Cape Town, South Africa, submitted a Change.org petition[4] demanding the South African government to refuse entry Melissa Bachman. Within the first week, Burman's petition attracted more than 315,000 signatures. Also on November 14th, a Facebook community page[14] titled "Stop Melissa Bachman" was launched with a message against animal-hunting as an outdoor leisure.
Melissa Bachman has made a career out of hunting wildlife, for pure sport. Her antics are captured extensively on her personal website: http://www.melissabachman.com/. She is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation, this country prides itself on. Her latest Facebook post features her with a lion she has just executed and murdered in our country.
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External References
[1] Twitter – Melissa Bachman's Tweet
[2] Twitter – Ricky Gervais' Tweet#
[3] Change.org – The Government of the Republic of South Africa: Deny future entry to Melissa Bachman
[4] Twitter – Tweet Mentions of @MelissaBachman
[5] Topsy – Tweets per day: melissa bachman
[6] Metro – TV presenter sparks anger after posting picture of lion she shot ‘dead’ on Twitter
[7] Huffington Post – Lion-Hunting U.S. TV Host Has South Africa In An Uproar
[8] Facebook – Maroi Conservancy's Post
[9] Mediate – Trophy Hunter Sets Off Tweetstorm With Picture of Dead Lion
[10] ABC News – Hunter Stirs Outrage After Posting Photo of Dead Lion
[11] The Independent – Melissa Bachman's lion photo: So much for education by Twitter
[12] Salon – Social media storm surrounds Minnesota TV host who posed with dead South African lion
[13] The Daily Dot – This hunter's latest kill could get her banned from South Africa
[14] Facebook – Stop Melissa Bachman
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