photo: Twitter/brookehouts

YouTuber Brooke Houts will not face criminal animal cruelty charges, reports TMZ. The Los Angeles Police Department has reportedly investigated Houts over a video she posted to her YouTube channel, in which she is seen slapping, shoving, and spitting on her Doberman, Sphinx. She later issued an apology. TMZ states that the LAPD investigation did not find that Houts inflicted cruelty to her dog under a legal, prosecutable definition. Houts will also be able to keep Sphinx. Revelist has reached out to the LAPD for comment.

Still, Houts may not be innocent in the court of public opinion. On social media, people are officially canceling Houts, with many expressing continued disgust at her actions toward her dog.

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Even though she was cleared by the LAPD, social media is still repulsed by Houts' actions.

"So it’s disturbing to hit and spit at a dog, but not a crime?! To top it off she gets to keep him," wrote Twitter user @queenbpip. "Yet if someone were to treat her like she treats her dog, they would go to jail. She needs prosecution," wrote Twitter user @chilpark.

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Some people criticized the LAPD as well.

The Los Angeles Police Department is never without its critics. "So. The LAPD decided to be a, once again, shitty police department and dropped the charges on Brooke Houts. F*** you Brooke, f*** the LAPD, and most importantly, f*** you news stations who haven’t reported on this," wrote Twitter user @lapidotstan.

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The investigation stems from an infamous video that she accidentally uploaded to YouTube.

brooke houts
photo: Twitter/brookehouts

In August 2019, Houts accidentally posted a video of herself abusing her dog, Sphinx. In the video, Sphinx is seen repeatedly entering her filming space; she aggressively shoves him out of the way and appears to spit and scream at the dog (Revelist will not post or link to the video). As expected, the backlash was immediate.

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She later issued a long apology on Twitter.

Houts later apologized for the video. She wrote a lengthy note on Twitter, reading in part, "Anything I say isn’t going to make those believe I’m a bad person stop believing that, and I’m aware of this. I apologize to anyone who has been effected [sic] negatively by the footage...I want to clarify that I am NOT a dog abuser or animal abuser in any way, shape, or form … Again, I should NOT have yelled at him or have been as physically aggressive as I was, and I'm aware of that."

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Houts cited the high cost of animal training as a reason why she was hostile toward her animal.

photo: Twitter/brookehouts

"My family and I are in the process of getting him training," said Houts in her apology note. "The training that I have been looking at is VERY expensive, because it'd have to be 1-on-1 with a trainer … I can't see him getting what he needs from a group training environment."

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The plot thickened after Houts' ex-boyfriend claimed that she had previously mistreated animals.

Houts' ex, Dolan Henrikson, claimed that he witnessed her treating animals unkindly. In a video, Henrikson said that he has a Miniature Schnauzer, and that Houts would "throw my dog around as if it was a cat." He also said that Houts "doesn't treat animals with the respect as if you treat a human being." Henrikson later told the Daily Dot that it was "wrong" to "humiliate" Houts.

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Houts' Twitter account and YouTube channel are still active.

Houts has deleted her Instagram account, but her Twitter account and YouTube channel are still up. She has not posted on Twitter since August 7, when she expressed thanks to fans for being "kind and understanding" throughout the backlash. Houts has not uploaded any videos since July 31.