Baldwin-Backed, PETA ‘Elves’ Set Out to Decry Radio City’s Live-Animal Nativity Scenes

For Immediate Release:
December 31, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

With signs declaring, “Radio City: End Animal Acts Now!,” PETA “elves” are set to descend on Radio City Music Hall on Thursday to make a colorful appeal for the Christmas Spectacular to stop using live camels, sheep, and donkeys as living props in its Nativity scenes. PETA’s action has the support of actor Alec Baldwin, who has urged the owner of Radio City Music Hall to stop subjecting animals to the stress and confusion of being hauled from city to city in cramped trucks, confined for months to its basement—and exposed to loud sounds and disorienting lights several times a day. Baldwin has called on the show to modernize by using animatronics, magical displays, LED lights, or special effects rather than needlessly subject animals to prolonged stress.

“Camels, sheep, and donkeys feel pain and fear as acutely as humans do, but the Christmas Spectacular denies them any comfort or joy when it drags them across the stage like inanimate props,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on the stage show to get off the ‘naughty list’ and create a truly spectacular production that leaves animals in peace.”

Where: Outside Radio City Music Hall, 1260 6th Ave., New York (at the corner of West 50th Street and 6th Avenue)

When: Thursday, January 2, 1 p.m.

Why: Camels are friendly animals who express their feelings with groans, moans, and roars; donkeys can recognize the faces of animals they haven’t seen for years; and sheep’s heart rates increase when they can’t find their family or are approached by strangers. Animals exploited in live Nativities face a constant barrage of activity and unwanted touches and are often tethered and made to stand on hard surfaces for hours. Their handlers commonly threaten and intimidate them—many use abusive tools to make them obey commands out of fear of physical punishment. These scenes are also unsafe for humans, since unpredictable, easily stressed 1,500-pound camels especially pose a danger to the public.

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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.