PETA ripped Fox and the National Football League for rejecting an advertisement featuring animals honoring Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest.
The animal rights group produced an advertisement that featured a bald eagle, a bear, and other forest critters kneeling while the national anthem played in the background. The ad concludes with the caption: “Respect is the right of every living being. End speciesism.”
In a tweet posted Friday morning, PETA claimed that the NFL pressured Fox to reject the advertisement from running during the Super Bowl. The organization tweeted, “THIS is the PETA #Super Bowl ad the @NFL apparently didn’t want you to see and pressured @Fox Sports to snub. It envisions a world where respect is the right of every being and pays homage to Kaepernick and movements rejecting injustice.”
THIS is the PETA #SuperBowl ad the @NFL apparently didn’t want you to see and pressured @FOXSports to snub.
It envisions a world where respect is the right of every being and pays homage to Kaepernick and movements rejecting injustice. https://t.co/kD1osnKhuX #EndSpeciesism pic.twitter.com/clXzU79aZV
— PETA (@peta) January 31, 2020
In a statement, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk added, “PETA is challenging speciesism, which is a supremacist worldview that allows humans to disrespect other living, feeling beings and to treat their interests as unimportant. Our patriotic Super Bowl spot envisions an America in which no sentient being is oppressed because of how they look, where they were born, who they love, or what species they are. It sends a message of kindness — one that the NFL should embrace, not silence.”
Moira Colley, a spokeswoman for PETA, told the Washington Examiner that the organization had not gotten a clear answer from Fox as to why the advertisement was rejected. The network told PETA it had been “discussing internally” and would get back to the organization, but never did.
“Ultimately, our ad is about being kind and respectful to everyone — not only other humans, but to all living beings, because every species has the right to live free from exploitation and abuse,” Colley said. “Our ad is respectful of our country, hopeful for the future, and patriotic in the best possible way.”
Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback, sparked a nationwide controversy when he knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality. The 32-year-old quarterback has not been picked up by a team since the 2016 season. The anthem protests spread following Kaepernick’s original demonstration, but most players have remained standing during the song this season.
PETA has a reputation of producing controversial advertisements. In 2003, PETA compared eating meat to having a “Holocaust on your plate.” The group also blasted New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for buying a purebred puppy.
The Super Bowl will be played this Sunday between Kansas City and San Francisco, Kaepernick’s former team. Both President Trump and 2020 Democrat Michael Bloomberg will be running campaign advertisements during the game.
