PETA to Ant and Dec: Step Down From ‘I’m a Celebrity’, End Complicity in Animal Abuse

PETA to Ant and Dec: Step Down From ‘I’m a Celebrity’, End Complicity in Animal Abuse

London – Today, ahead of the launch of this year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, PETA has fired off a letter urging presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly to step away from the programme.

In the letter (available here), PETA details the show’s sordid history of exploiting animals and notes how thousands of animals, including ostriches, crocodiles, rats, and insects, have suffered in the name of entertainment.

“For too long, you have been complicit in cruelty to animals on the show, and it must end,” writes PETA Vice President Elisa Allen. “The longer you associate yourselves with this show, the more you send the message to viewers that you think animal abuse is not only acceptable but also entertaining.”

As the show’s ratings continue to fall, PETA’s letter suggests that Ant and Dec “read the writing on the wall” and acknowledge how the public’s attitude towards using animals in these tacky stunts has changed significantly in recent years. Currently, the group’s campaign calling on ITV to stop abusing animals has been supported by over 50,000 compassionate people.

The letter concludes, “Leaving I’m a Celebrity would signal to the show’s producers that people aren’t going to stand for senseless cruelty to animals anymore and that it’s time to change. So please, hang up your hats and get yourselves out of there – for animals’ sake.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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