Actor Jason Lewis apologises after shooting at stray cats with grains of rice

Actor says: ‘Everyone who knows me knows my love of animals’

Jason Lewis apologises after neighbour films him shooting at stray cats (Getty Images for EJAF)

Sex and the City star Jason Lewis has apologised after he was filmed by a neighbour shooting grains of rice at stray cats on his property.

In a video obtained by TMZ, the actor can be seen arguing with his neighbour, Opel Barnes, about his attempts to scare away the cats while holding a rifle.

“Your communication is not going to get any reasonable response from me,” the actor can be heard telling Barnes, who responds: “You’re shooting at them for no reason. You think I should be reasonable?”

In response, Lewis says that “unreasonable would have been putting pellets in here instead of grains of rice,” as he taps the gun in his hand.

After Barnes alleges that the cats would be hurt by the gun’s ammunition either way, Lewis claims that he is not hitting the animals, as he is just shooting in their “general direction”.

However, according to Barnes, Lewis’s actions are interfering with her attempts to feed the stray cats, whose owner reportedly died last September, and get them to trust her, so that she can eventually help them find new homes.

“I’m trying to get them to trust me so I can get them into homes,” she can be heard telling Lewis. “Your doing that is negating everything I’m working on.”

The exchange concludes with both disagreeing with the other’s approach, with Lewis informing Barnes that he is doing “what I need to do in my space”.

Barnes also complained about Lewis’s actions on Instagram, where she shared a photo of the actor and wrote: “There is a devil living in Culver City and his name is Jason Lewis. He likes to fill his rifle with rice and shoot at the cats left behind when their owner died last September. The same cats I feed daily. Why? Because he doesn’t want them to [go to the bathroom] in his yard.”

On TikTok, where Barnes also posted about the actor’s behaviour, multiple people have criticised the 49-year-old.

@savingpussies

WHOS BULLYING WHOM?! IM CERTAINLY NOT BULLYING THIS BULLY!!!

♬ original sound - Opel Barnes

“Animal cruelty is a federal crime isn’t it?” one person commented, while another said: “Glad you’re there to help the poor kitties, what an a**hole.”

Following the release of the clip, Lewis responded in a statement to TMZ, where he claimed to be an animal lover and apologised to “fellow animal lovers” for his actions.

“Everyone who knows me knows my love of animals. I've tried for months to work with a person who is coming into the neighbourhood and feeding a large group of feral cats in an effort to relocate them as they have been filling the yards with fleas and waste,” he said. “I made the wrong choice in shooting rice into the dirt (not toward the cats) to spook with the noise and scare them away.

“To fellow animal lovers that I disappointed, I'm sorry."

As of Saturday, the actor has disabled comments on his Instagram. 

The Independent has contacted Lewis for comment.