Fox News Flash top headlines for July 22
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A meetup of French bulldogs is causing a stir in New York City’s Upper East Side neighborhood.
The meetup group, called Frenchies of UES on Instagram, meets for an hour on Sundays at the Carl Schurz Park Dog Runs, but has recently received criticism for overcrowding the park.
Another Instagram account, called Move the meetups (with the handle @stop_the_meetups), was created earlier this month by a person who did not reveal their identity.
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The account made its first post on July 9 alongside a photo of the dog park that was reportedly taken of one of the meetups "a few months ago," according to the post.
"Tomorrow at 9:30am, this will be the #carlschurzpark small dog run - overpacked with frenchies and their owners," the post said.
A meetup of French bulldog owners and their pets has gone viral for causing controversy on Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood. (iStock)
"You can’t even control or watch your dog with all of these people standing around, socializing," the post added. "It’s too small! Move these meetups to other parks on the UES, like Andrew Haskell or the large dog run in Carl schurz. It makes zero sense to have them in here and it’s dangerous."
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The Move the meetups account published four more posts on Instagram, complaining about the size of the meetup group and encouraging the group to go to another, larger park on the Upper East Side, Andrew Haswell Green Dog Park.
On Tuesday, the controversy went viral when NBC News culture reporter Kalhan Rosenblatt posted about it on Twitter.
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Rosenblatt said in the thread that she brings her French bulldog, Nacho, to the weekly meetup, where between 15 and 20 French bulldogs show up.
"The meetups are friendly and the dogs are great and there are also non-Frenchies there too! It's just a fun way to get the dogs together," Rosenblatt tweeted.
"ANNNYWAY, apparently, this infuriated someone who owns a non-Frenchy and launched a STOP THE MEETUPS account," she added in a follow-up tweet.
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Rosenblatt’s original tweet received over 74,200 likes and 3,757 retweets and the following tweets received thousands of likes each.
After Rosenblatt’s tweets went viral, the Move the meetups account announced it would be closing the page on Saturday, July 23.
An unidentified person made an Instagram account criticizing the Frenchies of UES group for taking up too much space in the Carl Schurz Park Dog Runs during its one-hour Sunday meetup. (iStock)
"This account was started with good intentions," the person wrote on Wednesday. "We all want a safe space for our dogs to play and socialize."
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The account holder added that after Rosenblatt’s tweets went viral, they had received "many hateful and hurtful messages over the past day."
"The owner of the Frenchies of UES account and I will be meeting privately to discuss how the communities can come to a better solution," the person added. "I will not be giving comments to media outlets, and I will be leaving this page up until this weekend."
After the controversy went viral, the person who started the Move the meetups Instagram account announced they would close the page on Saturday. (iStock)
The account had gained a total of 287 Instagram followers.
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The owner of the Frenchies of UES account also posted about the controversy on Tuesday.
In part, the post said: "With all of the unrest and chaos going on in the world right now, we should be celebrating the little moments of joy such as these meetups rather than adding another point of contention between people and the community."
"We love our community and meetups, and it is never our intention to create a poor experience for anyone in the park," the post concluded. "We have, and will continue to, abide by the park rules and create a loving environment."
Fox News Digital reached out to both Frenchies of UES and Move the meetups via Instagram for comments.
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