'You'd think I was running with the bulls,' comedian Pat Shortt hits back over Spain furore
The Tipperary native is having none of it!
Pat Shortt has hit back at criticism he received online after attending a bull run in Spain recently saying "you'd think I was running with the bulls or fighting them" given the reaction on social media.
The Tipperary native and well-known Irish comic was in the northern Spanish town of Pamplona for the annual event which kicked off on Monday, July 8, as part of the San Fermin festival.
Six people were injured during the bull run on the first day of the event, which sees hundreds of people running from six bulls and six tame oxen through the streets of the town, along a half-mile long course.
Attending the event with his friends, Pat posted a picture and initially wrote on Twitter, in a tweet that now seems to be deleted, that he "had the dinner this morning at half six to get a clear run at the day or bulls. Some atmosphere".
Sharing a photograph of him and a friend surrounded by Pamplona residents, many wearing the traditional white outfit with red sash, the comments of his post saw Pat criticised for attending the "horrific" and "cruel" event, according to reports.
One said: "The barbarity of this event is disgusting shame on anyone taking pleasure in it."
Admitting that his post "got a mad reaction", Pat denied that he has "any interest in bull fighting" and claimed he was just "trying to soak up as much of the culture as possible".
"You'd think I was running with the bulls or fighting them. I was there for the street parties and they didn't disappoint," he told Melanie Finn of the Irish Independent.