Vinnie Jones denies posting picture of 100 dead foxes on social media
VINNIE JONES has revealed his Twitter account was hacked after he appeared to post a very controversial image of 100 dead foxes yesterday.
Vinnie Jones said he was hacked after a controversial fox hunting picture
The 52-year-old former football star sparked a vicious backlash on social media after he appeared to share the gruesome image to his 55,000 Twitter followers, along with the caption: "A real night lamping #foxes @BASCnews anyone beat this??? Old school red filter @fieldsportstv."
Furious animal rights activists were quick to condemn the image, with one charity accusing him of "nothing less than massacre".
Earlier this evening Vinnie took to social media to clear up the controversy, tweeting: "I have just woke to see these tweets with fox pics, this is a hack I've never seen this pic in my life and did NOT tweet it it is a HACK!"
He added: "I am very sorry for the distress this HACKED picture has caused everyone I DO NOT condone it anyway."
Yesterday an image of 100 dead foxes was posted to Vinnie's Twitter account
Vinnie deleted the tweet and said that his account had been hacked
However, the actor has previously spoken about his passion for "lamping", the practice of legal fox hunting which takes place at night.
Telling Shooting UK about his love for the pastime, Vinnie said: "I love pigeon shooting - building the hide, putting the decoys out.
"Lamping is probably my favourite," he continued. "I've spent a lot of money customising my Land Rover for lamping. If the farmer has a fox problem I love going out there and dealing with it for him."
He also enthused: "My perfect day would be to get up early, get the hide out, shoot pigeons all day, bagging about 200, then go lamping all night and get half-a-dozen foxes."
Vinnie has also shared several snaps from his various hunting trips on social media in the past.
He added that he 'does not condone' the image
Social media users were critical of Vinnie's denial
Many didn't believe that he had been hacked
Vinnie has been known to enjoy hunting as a sport
In January, he posted an image to his friend posing with 16 dead rabbits, saying: "How about this for two hours pal."
Some Twitter users were not convinced by his insistence that the photo of the 100 dead foxes had been shared by a hacker, with one commenting: "One word to his tweet - b*****s. He thought he was being funny then panicked."
Another simply shared a GIF of Pinocchio's nose growing, implying that the star was lying, while a third raged: "Another one blaming the 'hacked' s***e."
He previously posed with dead rabbits for a Twitter snap
He boasted about a kill in April this year
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Several others shared Vinnie's own snaps from hunting trips, asking why, if yesterday's tweet was sent by a hacker, there was evidence of his love of the sport from previous posts.
A representative for Vinnie told Express.co.uk: "This is a hacked picture with all these foxes. This is not his picture and he is equally distressed as this is way overkill and something that has probably been altered too.
"Vinnie loves the countryside and hunting and fishing, however always abides by the law and this picture is simply not his," the spokesperson added.