Please note that this is not a satirical article despite the headline.
According to TheWrap, Italy has been pursuing charges against noted blockbuster movie director Michael Bay for the past year because of an alleged pigeon death on the 2018 set of 6 Underground. The director refused to pay a fine over the incident because it would have required that he plead guilty to the charge. He and his legal team have tried three times to get the case thrown out as Bay maintains his innocence, but the prosecution is moving forward. Bay is denying the allegation that a homing pigeon was killed by a dolly during a take of the action movie starring Ryan Reynolds. Pigeons are among many birds protected in Italy and throughout the EU.
“I am a well-known animal lover and major animal activist,” Bay said in a statement. “No animal involved in the production was injured or harmed. Or on any other production I’ve worked on in the past 30 years.”
Allegedly, an unnamed person on set saw the death, photographed it, and sent the photos to Italian authorities.
Bay responded directly to the potential photographic evidence by referring to his production’s own “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.”
Fortunately, it seems safe to make jokes about the situation because it seems unlikely that a pigeon was killed. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t involve doves and another iconic action director, so the jokes don’t really come that naturally.
(via TheWrap)