Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has pulled all bloodsports footage from his controversial outdoor TV channel after a massive public backlash.

The 70-year-old asked My Outdoor TV to “remove all content related to those animals in light of public interest”.

A statement read: "Outdoor Sportsman Group is dedicated to serving audiences around the world interested in the outdoors.

"In the past few days, there has been significant public attention to a small portion of programming on our MyOutdoorTV app that contains content associated with hunting certain big game animals.

"While many on both sides of this issue have made their voices heard, and this content is only available through paid subscriptions, Stan Kroenke has directed us to remove all content related to those animals in light of the public interest."

The new subscription channel, called My Outdoor TV, offers a host of hunting and shooting programmes (
Image:
MOTV)
Stan Kroenke asked My Outdoor TV to “remove all content related to those animals in light of public interest” (
Image:
Reuters)

Chris Packham had earlier slammed Kroenke’s sick trophy hunting TV channel as “psychopathic” and “ugly”.

The conservationist and TV presenter spoke as the US billionaire faced a backlash over the My Outdoor TV streaming service’s UK launch last weekend.

Its vile shows featured animals including lions and elephants being stalked and shot by professional hunters.

Springwatch host Chris said Arsenal FC sponsor Emirates should “exert some pressure” on the club as 70,000 people signed a petition calling on sponsors to take a stand against hunting.

Chris Packham has torn into the Arsenal owner's TV business (
Image:
BBC)
Gunners fan Ben Fogle called for supporters to boycott the club (
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ITV)

He said: “I’m sure an otherwise premium airline wouldn’t want to be associated with this ­celebration of slaughter of some of the world’s most beautiful species.”

My Outdoor TV is part of US-based Outdoor Sportsman Group, owned by Gunners majority shareholder Kroenke, and a subscription costs £7.60 a month.

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Chris, 56, said: “What an ugly scenario – trophy hunting on UK television and so out of touch with the modern mood. As wildlife becomes rarer people are growing intolerant of wasting it by killing it for fun. The response to Cecil the lion’s death and to fox hunting and raptor persecution in the UK prove this.

A hunter takes aim with a rifle on My Outdoor TV (
Image:
MOTV)

“And the ‘hunter as conservationist’ line is largely a tired old lie they still trot out to justify their psychopathic need to kill defenceless things for pleasure.

“It would be nice to see Emirates exert some pressure because of the Arsenal connection.”

Presenter Ben Fogle called for Arsenal fans to boycott the club.

He said on Good Morning Britain: “My problem is that it glorifies hunting.

With young people suddenly having access to the hunting of elephants in Africa, whether people argue this is legal or not, it’s unethical and I don’t think that we should be promoting this.

Chris Packham goes lion-watching in Africa (
Image:
BBC)

“Stan Kroenke, as a billionaire philanthropist, I think he should be focusing on putting money into conservation.

“It’s still glorifying blood sports. You can’t underestimate the power of television. Television is a medium that makes everything very glamorous.

“If you glamorise someone out with a bow and arrow shooting a bear or someone hunting an elephant, whether it’s for conservation – whether you can argue that or not – it’s still glorifying murder, the killing of a beautiful animal that’s endangered.”

Ben, 43, added: “All the Arsenal supporters… your money is going into supporting hunting, whether you like it or not. I’m calling for a boycott, please.”

My Outdoor TV's promotional material, which glamorises bloodsports (
Image:
MOTV)

And GMB presenter Eamonn Holmes, 57, said the trophy hunting channel made him “sick”. Brandishing a copy of the Mirror’s front page, he said: “What I’ve seen, that’s made my blood run cold.

“That headline, people who pose as trophy hunters beside things like that. It makes me sick. I think a man who’s in charge of Arsenal has a social responsibility not to be peddling that.”

High-profile Gunners fans Piers Morgan and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were also among those to condemn Kroenke over the footage.

Mr Corbyn said: "As an Arsenal fan I’m disgusted Stan Kroenke is involved in such a brutal, unethical and unnecessary activity."

Outdoor Sportsman Group president and chief executive Jim Liberatore had defended the channel as “a subscription, video-on-demand service that caters to viewers that enjoy outdoor lifestyle content”.

He said: “We advocate and televise only legal, ethical and fair-chase hunting, while also educating viewers about conservation practices and game management that are underlying elements of the programming.”