PETA Pushes Apple’s Tim Cook to ‘Kill Off the Monkey’ If There’s a Second Season of Bad Monkey

For Immediate Release:
October 10, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Following the season finale of Apple TV+’s Bad Monkey and on the heels of HBO’s smash hit Chimp Crazy—which drew attention to the lifelong suffering of primates forced to perform in the entertainment industry—PETA sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook with an unusual request: Kill off the monkeyin Season 2.

The group points out that primates used in film and television are typically torn away from their mothers as infants and denied everything that’s natural and important to them—and studies show that putting them on screen hinders conservation efforts and fuels a dangerous demand for these animals as “pets.” Along with the request, PETA urged Cook to sign its Primate Protection Pledge promising to ban the use of monkeys and other primates in future Apple TV+ productions.

“Monkeys belong with their families in the jungle, not on a noisy, crowded television set where they’re forced to perform demeaning tricks,” says primatologist and PETA Foundation Senior Director of Captive Wildlife Debbie Metzler. “PETA is calling on Tim Cook to sign the Primate Protection Pledge and get exploited monkeys out of Apple TV+’s programming.”

Crystal, the tufted capuchin who appears in Bad Monkey, is owned by Hollywood animal supplier Birds & Animals Unlimited, which has exploited her for over 20 years. PETA’s 10-month undercover investigation into the company found that animals were confined to filthy enclosures and denied food so that they would be hungry while being trained to perform tricks and that sick and injured animals went without adequate veterinary care.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Cook follows.

Dear Mr. Cook:

As a primatologist with nearly 20 years of experience, I can assure you that primates don’t want to be on TV. Period. PETA has been saying this for years. Studies have shown that using them in the media also fuels a dangerous demand for these animals as “pets.” And now, the new docuseries Chimp Crazy has offered the most compelling condemnation of using primates for entertainment yet. So we have a suggestion for you: If Bad Monkey is renewed for a second season, please kill off the monkey. Yes, kill off the monkey.

This should be especially easy given that the sequel story, Razor Girl, doesn’t include a monkey. But in case the writers need ideas so that producers won’t be tempted to continue exploiting Crystal or any other real monkeys, here are just a few suggestions for how to kill off “Driggs”:

• He could die of heart disease from eating the typical junk fed to “pet” primates.
• He could die of a broken heart from being denied everything that’s natural and important to him on a set like that of Bad Monkey.
• Or to keep it light and funny, he could slip on a banana peel!

Then, we implore you to take PETA’s Primate Protection Pledge and ban the use of primates in any future Apple TV+ productions.

We appreciate all you’ve done to lead Apple with compassion, such as the decision to ban leather, sparing countless animals tremendous suffering in a move that earned Apple PETA’s 2023 Company of the Year Award. Now, attention should turn to primates used in film and TV, and given Apple’s prominence in the entertainment industry, it’s critical that your streaming service stop supporting this cruel industry that profits off ripping baby monkeys from their mothers and forcing them into unnatural situations and lives of deprivation.

Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing that Apple will help us lead Hollywood toward a more humane future.

All the best,

Debbie Metzler, M.S.

Primatologist and Senior Director of Captive Wildlife

PETA Foundation