PETA Calls On Creators of ‘Anchorman’ Sequel To Cut SeaWorld Scenes

Group Rallies Its Supporters Worldwide to Urge Filmmakers to Follow in Finding Dory’s Footsteps

For Immediate Release:
August 19, 2013

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Hollywood — After viewing the hard-hitting documentary Blackfish and learning about the cruelty inherent in keeping intelligent marine mammals captive in tiny tanks at SeaWorld, the creative team behind Pixar’s Finding Dory changed the film’s ending, and now PETA is calling on the producers of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues to follow suit. The group has posted an action alert on its popular website asking visitors to urge the Anchorman filmmakers to remove all scenes shot at SeaWorld from the film.

“The constant deprivation that marine mammals face at SeaWorld is suited to a horror film, not a comedy,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. “The makers of Finding Dory changed its ending after learning how cruel SeaWorld is, and PETA is calling on the creators of Anchorman to do the same—and leave all SeaWorld scenes on the cutting-room floor, where they belong.”

In the wild, orcas share intricate relationships with their family members and swim as many as 100 miles every day with their pods. At SeaWorld, orcas continually turn in circles in small concrete tanks, which, in human terms, are equivalent to the size of a bathtub, and are also forced to perform circus-style tricks for food. As Blackfish reveals, this constant deprivation leads the orcas to lash out: SeaWorld lists more than 100 incidents of orca aggression—including injuries to trainers and one’s death—in its own incomplete records.

The creative team at Pixar responsible for changing Finding Dory’s ending reportedly told Blackfish’s director that “they didn’t want to look back on this film in 50 years and have it be their Song of the South“—a reference to the 1940s Disney film now widely regarded as racist.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.