Rudy Giuliani’s Bullfight Photos Prompt PETA Appeal

Bullfights Are Illegal in the U.S. for Good Reason, Says Group

For Immediate Release:
February 10, 2020

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

After photos and video surfaced showing Rudy Giuliani, as CNN put it, “relishing a bullfight,” PETA fired off a letter urging the former mayor never to attend another bullfight.

PETA points out that bullfights are illegal in the U.S.—and for good reason: During these cruel events, humans taunt, exhaust, and stab each bull with a lance and several harpoon-like banderillas until he becomes weakened from blood loss. Then, the matador stabs the exhausted animal with a sword—and if he doesn’t die right away, other weapons are used to cut his spinal cord. Many bulls are paralyzed but still conscious as their ears and tail are cut off to be given to the matador as trophies.

“Bullfighting is a coward’s game in which packs of men team up to beat and weaken a sensitive animal long before the matador enters the ring,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “There’s nothing macho about it, and PETA is urging Rudy Giuliani to learn from his mistake and pledge never to attend another bullfight.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

Note: PETA supports animal rights and opposes all forms of animal exploitation and informs the public on those issues. PETA does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.

PETA’s letter to Rudy Giuliani follows.

February 10, 2020

Rudy Giuliani

Chair and CEO

Giuliani Partners LLC

Dear Mr. Giuliani,

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 6.5 million members and supporters worldwide regarding a newly released video showing you relishing a bullfight during a trip to Spain last August. As a charity mandated to address cruelty to animals, we cannot comment on other matters; however, we urge you to acknowledge that this blood sport is illegal in all 50 states for a good reason and to agree never to attend another bullfight.

Some may think that bullfighting is a macho display, but in reality, it’s a coward’s spectacle. The bulls—like the one you watched fight for his life and die—are terrified, in excruciating pain, and tortured against their will. They’re weakened before the “fight” by beatings with sandbags and debilitated with laxatives, their horns are shaved, and petroleum jelly is rubbed into their eyes to diminish their ability to judge distances. Bullfighters drive lances into the animals’ back and neck muscles, stabbing them repeatedly with a sword. After falling to the ground from exhaustion and massive blood loss, they can only watch and wait in terror before another knife plunges into their heart, killing them. They never stand a chance.

International condemnation of this deadly spectacle continues to grow, and it has been banned in at least 100 towns in Spain. The Mexican states of Coahuila, Guerrero, Sonora, and Quintana Roo have also imposed bans, joining Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Italy, the U.K., and, of course, the U.S.

We hope you realize that supporting bullfighting is a mistake and urge you never to attend another one of these cruel events. Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk

President