Viewers are enraged by ITV’s Good Morning Britain commentator Alice Plunkett ‘defending’ equestrian Charlotte Dujardin from backlash surrounding a video of the Olympian whipping a horse.
Dujardin has been forced to withdraw from Team GB for the upcoming Olympics after a video – shown for the first time on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday – showing her whipping the back of a horses legs repeatedly during training was revealed.
The 39-year-old, who is Britain’s joint-most decorated female Olympian, has now been banned for six months by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) and will not appear at the Paris games.
In a statement about the controversy, Dujardin said she made an ‘error of judgement’ and is ‘deeply ashamed’ of her actions.
During the discussion of the video on GMB, Richard Madeley asked Alice Plunkett: ‘Is Dujardin finished?’
Plunkett responded: ‘I think, one thing I want to – she will be hung drawn and quartered on social media. This will be her defining legacy and I just want people to remember in the middle of this there is a human being.’
Viewers quickly took to social media to share their anger at what they saw as Plunkett’s attempt to defend the Olympian.