‘Anchorman 2’ Gives Audiences a Whale of a Reason to Skip It
Ron Burgundy must have gotten hit over the head with a jazz flute. Why else would Will Ferrell’s character be working at SeaWorld in the opening scenes of Anchorman 2? The movie starts with a washed-up Ron working as an announcer at the “abusement” park. And while it’s fitting that a job at the marine-mammal prison would be a low point in anyone’s career, the reality of what animals endure at SeaWorld is nothing to laugh at.
The members of the creative team behind the upcoming film Finding Dory altered their script after they watched the SeaWorld exposé Blackfish so that the characters would no longer end up at a marine park. PETA reached out to the Anchorman 2 filmmakers last summer and asked them to do the same. In our letter, we explained the following:
“In the wild, dolphins swim up to 100 miles a day in the open ocean, but captive dolphins are confined to small tanks in which the reverberations from their sonar bounce off the walls, driving them insane. Some of these animals were violently captured and torn away from their homes in the wild, and all have been forced to learn and perform circus-style tricks. According to whistleblower tips from trainers, withholding food from animals who refuse to perform is a common training method. Captive orcas live far short of their natural 50-year life expectancy. At least 24 orcas have died in the U.S. SeaWorld facilities since 1986—and not one died of old age.”
Despite learning how SeaWorld hurts animals, the Anchorman 2 crew paid no attention. That’s why we’ll be paying no attention when this movie hits the box office.
