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There was plenty of bewilderment online when a video of a kangaroo on a leash was shared last week.

Now, animal lovers are angry after it appears to be the same kangaroo was used for an on-stage musical performance.

American stand up comedian Mike Epps, who appeared in The Hangover, was captured performing with the marsupial during the Festival of Laughs comedy tour in Detroit on Friday night.

Video of the performance was shared on social media and on TMZ. It shows the marsupial held in place with a leash by a handler and repeatedly picked up.

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The kangaroo reportedly belongs to Javon Stacks, who runs a travelling animal show called Exotic Zoo.

Stacks told MLivehe has the proper licenses to work with his animals, and he also told TMZthe kangaroo was not harmed in any way during the performance.

Still, online animal lovers are far from happy with what they saw.

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A video uploaded onto Epps' Instagram account showed him playing with a kangaroo, telling followers "how nice" he was treating the animal. The post has since been deleted.

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Eventually, Epps "sincerely apologised" on Instagram for his actions on Sunday, accompanied with the Save the Kangaroos logo from UK animal rights organisation Viva, which he promised to donate to.

"I don't own the kangaroo and did not mean any harm to the animal," he wrote. "It got outta hand and Iam [sic] sorry !"

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