Former Grand Marshal Cloris Leachman Wants Rose Parade to Give SeaWorld Float the Boot

Screen Legend Joins PETA in Opposing Marine Park’s ‘PR Ploy’

For Immediate Release:
December 19, 2013

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Cloris Leachman was proud to be the 2008 grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses—but she’s less than thrilled about the Rose Parade’s decision to allow a SeaWorld float in this year’s parade. In a letter sent to the president of the Tournament of Roses Association today on PETA’s behalf, the venerated comedian—who says she “hate[s] to rain on this parade, but …”—points to the hit documentary Blackfish, which exposed SeaWorld’s practice of tearing baby orcas away from their mothers and locking them in tiny concrete tanks, where they suffer physically and psychologically.

“Many orcas at SeaWorld have been stuck in tanks that amount to glorified bathtubs for decades,” Leachman writes. “They have been deprived of everything that is natural and important to them and are forced to swim in endless circles, far from their families. It’s no wonder that orcas at SeaWorld have never lived long enough to die of old age (and as someone who has lived a long, eventful life, I can vouch for the fact that they’re missing out).” She concludes, “Please don’t let the company use the Rose Parade as a PR ploy.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

Cloris Leachman’s letter to the president of the Tournament of Roses Association follows and can also be seen here.

December 19, 2013

R. Scott Jenkins, President
Tournament of Roses Association

Dear Mr. Jenkins:

As the 2008 grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses, I was thrilled to take part in an event that is older than I am. I hate to rain on this parade, but I was disappointed to learn from my friends at PETA that SeaWorld will have a float this year. Perhaps the Tournament of Roses Association has not seen Blackfish? The highly acclaimed documentary gives us a look beyond SeaWorld’s glossy ads at the painful lives of orcas who were captured and bred for the park. Many orcas at SeaWorld have been confined for decades to tanks that, to them, amount to nothing more than glorified bathtubs. They have been deprived of everything that is natural and important to them and are forced to swim in endless circles, far away from their families. It’s no wonder that orcas at SeaWorld have never lived long enough to die of old age. (And as someone who has lived a long, eventful life, I can vouch for the fact that they’re missing out.)

SeaWorld is trying to recover from an exposé that showed its true colors. Please don’t let the company use the Rose Parade as a PR ploy. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Cloris Leachman