'A Dog's Purpose' Producer Gavin Polone Slams PETA, Explains Misleading Video Alleging Animal Cruelty And Abuse

"A Dog's Purpose" producer Gavin Polone broke his silence Tuesday about the controversial video that surfaced Jan. 19, in which a whimpering German shepherd was seen to be forced by his trainer into a pool of rushing water on the movie sets. Polone said it "portrays an inaccurate picture of what happened" and blamed People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for promoting the "misleading" message.

The video, shot October 2015 on the set of "A Dog’s Purpose" in Winnipeg, Canada, was circulated by TMZ. It showed a German shepherd named Hercules being lowered repeatedly into a pool of churning water, despite the animal's clear hesitation to do so. In a later cut, the dog is seen going under the water as crew members yell and rush toward him. Following the controversy that erupted, by Jan. 20, Universal and Amblin Entertainment jointly cancelled the film’s Los Angeles premiere.

But Polone, who is known as an animal rights activist and an animal lover, expressed dismay at what he saw in the video but also questioned PETA's ethics.

In an op-ed published Monday by the Hollywood Reporter, he wrote: "As I’ve said, [PETA] has called for a boycott of the movie and, unlike any other major animal welfare group, has been fomenting negative publicity around these events with great energy. Not only have they been circulating the TMZ video, which portrays an inaccurate picture of what happened, but they have included a clip from our trailer where you see the dog jumping into a treacherous rushing wall of water. But THAT ISN’T A REAL DOG, it is a computer-generated dog leaping into the water."

PETA senior vice president Lisa Lange responded to Polone's comments in a statement to USA TODAY: "Those who made the movie want it to succeed, but even the film's producer, Gavin Polone, admitted that the incident should not have occurred, so for him to offer alternative facts about what countless people have now watched and condemned is a form of spin that even the best filmmaker couldn't pull off," she said in the statement, adding: "The fact that a producer like Polone, someone who genuinely cares about animals, failed to prevent cruel training techniques... and failed to stop a dog from being terrorized during shooting exemplifies just how deeply entrenched the problems are in this business."