Pop star Maluma – who has appeared alongside Madonna, Shakira, Ricky Martin and others – has suspended his Instagram account after being slammed for posting a video of him kissing a lion cub.
The Colombian singer who recently teamed up with pop icon Madonna on the track ‘Medellin’ has seemingly deleted his Instagram account after he was criticised for posting a video of him hugging and kissing a lion cub.
Video Credit: CEN/@maluma
In the video, the Colombian star can be seen holding the tiny cub in his hands as he kisses its fur.
Maluma, 25, posted the video for his army of 42 million followers but he was slammed by users who believed the cub was his pet.
After he received the criticism, he posted another video in which he said: “I was reading the comments of the last post I posted with a lion, with Mala Mia (the name of the cub). I do not understand why there are such stupid people, stupid people who believe that it is my pet. Don’t you understand that this animal is there because it was rescued? Don’t you understand that it would be dead if it had not been rescued?”
Maluma explained that he had been at The Black Jaguar-White Tiger Foundation in Mexico when he recorded the video with the cub.
The artist also recommended his “haters” on Instagram to help other animals, saying: “Why on earth instead of writing silly things don’t you go out to the street and buy food for dogs? Why don’t you save animals as Eduardo does? Stop speaking about stupid things, do not be ignorant.”
The singer was referring to Eduardo Serlo, who runs the foundation in Mexico which Maluma works with.
His profile on the social media platform is now “unavailable”, with local media report ¡ing he has taken a break after the criticism.
He said that he is an animal lover who never “support animal trafficking”, and he has two Huskies as pets who are left with expert keepers when he goes on tour.
The Colombian is currently on tour with Mexico and is on a high after releasing his song with Madonna, and the pair recently performed the track at the Billboard Music Awards.
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Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
