Latest news with #TerryChao
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Anna Delvey Addresses Accusation She Dumped Bunnies in Park After Photoshoot, Says She's ‘Appalled'
Anna Delvey defended herself amid accusations that bunnies that posed with her during a recent photoshoot were later dumped in a New York park. Last week, the former Dancing With the Stars and ex-convict contestant posted behind-the-scenes clips of herself and the bunnies, including one TikTok that showed her and one baby rabbit doing the "High School" challenge. Discovering that the bunnies were abandoned in Brooklyn's Prospect Park was plant-based influencer Terry Chao, who recognized the animals after posts were made on Reddit, as she rescued them earlier in the week. Christian Batty, who was an assistant on Delvey's photoshoot with photographer Jasper Soloff, requested available bunnies from Chao, who brought them to the Financial District. In a statement following the incident, Batty said that he "panicked" before taking the bunnies to the park, "felt overwhelmed," and thus, "made the worst possible choice" in abandoning them. Thankfully, the animals were found and have since been fostered. COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what's next. Buy. Collect. Obsess. "I am relieved to hear that the rabbits are now safe, but I deeply regret the harm I caused," Batty continued in his statement. "I also want to be clear that Anna and Jasper had no knowledge of my actions until this afternoon, and I ask that any mention of them be removed from the situation." Soon after, Delvey entered the chat with a separate statement, explaining that she met Batty during a NYFW event in 2024 and that he told her someone would "lend us bunnies for a few hours." Delvey said she was surprised to find out that the animals were obtained through Facebook Marketplace and that she had "no knowledge" of the rabbits being taken to Prospect Park. "The idea that someone would compromise the well-being of innocent animals for personal networking opportunities is deeply disturbing to me," she continued. Delvey confessed that while it isn't her "job to source or return animals," she called herself an "animal lover" and avowed to never pose with rabbits again unless knowing where they came from and "how they're getting home." She added that she was "appalled by what transpired." "I do not eat meat, and I had no involvement in the acquisition, transport, or return of these animals. I would never condone these actions," she concluded. While Delvey stressed her animal advocacy, she was notorious for financial fraud in New York social circles in the last decade, becoming the inspiration behind former Netflix show Inventing Anna. In 2019, she was found guilty on multiple counts of grand larceny and four misdemeanor counts of theft of service. She spent 19 months in detention and was released on house arrest in 2022 after a $10,000 bail bond was posted. Related Products Coachella Store Coachella 2025 Cottontail Bandana $20 , uDiscover Music Dancing With The Art of Starting Over 2LP $39.98 , uDiscover Music Dancing With The Art of Starting Over 1CD $13.98 , EDGLRD Baby Invasion - Starry Rabbit Tee $54 Related News , , Related News Shooting Near Atlanta's Emory University and CDC Leaves Suspect Dead, Officer Injured Game On: These Are the Top Video Game TV Adaptations You Need to Watch COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what's next. Buy. Collect. Obsess. Making Culture Pop. Find the latest entertainment news and the best in music, pop culture, sneakers, style and original shows. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fake Heiress Anna Delvey's Photoshoot Bunnies Dumped in Park
The convicted Russian con woman known as Anna Delvey, sporting a strapless sundress, white pumps, and an ankle monitor, posed glamorously in a recent photoshoot on the streets of New York City, holding two rabbits on a hot pink leash. Then, the rabbits were abandoned in a nearby urban park. The SoHo scammer, who is currently serving house arrest for defrauding banks, hotels, and New York City elites by posing as a German heiress, can now add animal negligence to the controversies she is associated with. After Delvey posted her photoshoot, Terry Chao, a vegan influencer and blogger, realized that Delvey's rabbits were the same rabbits she rescued earlier that week, whom Chao named Moon and Parker. After receiving an alert from her neighborhood Facebook group, Chao teamed up with two other Brooklyn locals to rescue the rabbits from Prospect Park, as she explained in an Instagram post. After seeing Delvey's post, Chao contacted Christian Batty, who Delvey had credited as her rabbit scout in the photo caption. Coincidentally, Batty had previously reached out to Chao to ask if they could borrow her pet rabbit for the photoshoot. A heated back-and-forth ensued. Batty insisted to Chao that the rabbits were safe, even sending her what appeared to be a forged text exchange to 'prove' it, Chao wrote. As outraged animal rights defenders flooded Delvey's comment section, Delvey responded with anger in equal proportion. 'I will find and sue dimwits like yourself who simply refuse to accept that the bunnies that were borrowed for our shoot are safe at home with their owners,' Delvey replied to one commenter. By Sunday, the jig was up. Batty issued a public apology for the incident and stated that Delvey had no part in the rabbit dump or the failed cover-up. 'When I realized the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked. At 19, with no experience caring for animals, no pet-friendly housing, and no knowledge of available resources, I felt overwhelmed and made the worst possible choice,' Batty wrote. 'Believing, mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them there, thinking that was my best option.' Batty also helped Chao rescue a third lost rabbit, whom Chao named Joaquin. All three rabbits are now in foster care until they find a permanent home, according to Chao, who is also raising donations for the rescued pets. In a written statement to the Daily Beast, Delvey wrote that Batty, whom she knew only tangentially, claimed he 'knew someone who could lend us bunnies for a few hours.' 'I later discovered that, instead of borrowing animals from a legitimate source, he had obtained them via Facebook Marketplace and intended to release them into Prospect Park, a plan of which I had no knowledge,' she added. 'I do not eat meat, and I had no involvement in the acquisition, transport, or return of these animals. I would never condone these actions,' Delvey wrote. Delvey posted screenshots of text exchanges on her Instagram story throughout Monday to proclaim her innocence after Chao made her complaints public, and screenshot a picture of a $1,000 donation to a rabbit rescue nonprofit. The Daily Beast has reached out to Batty for comment. 'I'm pretty sure they're all pretty complicit, and if they had wanted to do the right thing, they could have, and they didn't,' Chao told the Daily Beast on Monday. Jenna Goins, who helped Chao rescue the rabbits, claims that the animal mistreatment started during Delvey's photoshoot. 'Bunnies should not be kept on leashes like that. And then in another photo, she had the bunny upside down on its back,' Goins said, explaining that placing rabbits in that position unnecessarily puts them into a state of fear and induces an involuntary state of paralysis. Chao added that rabbits are 'one of the most abused animals,' and that Delvey's photoshoot controversy illuminates how pets can be mistreated out of ignorance. 'It's never okay to dump your pet, ever.' 'This is the best possible outcome out of a heinous action that happened,' Chao said. Solve the daily Crossword
