Cage the Elephant Gets Name Change Plea From PETA Ahead of NFL Munich Halftime Show 

For Immediate Release:
November 9, 2026

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Ahead of Cage the Elephant’s halftime show at the NFL Munich Game, PETA is calling on the two-time Grammy-winning rock band to make one temporary but potentially transformative name change: Become “Free the Elephant” across its social media accounts for a week to spotlight Okha, a 56-year-old ailing elephant who has spent most of her life forced to perform in the circus under the threat of punishment—and rally support to help retire her to a reputable sanctuary.

Okha was ripped from her home and family in India when she was just a baby and is currently being hauled around in a trailer with an exhibitor, Brian Franzen, who has previously been charged with felony cruelty to animals charges and was caught on camera yanking and striking an elephant in the face with a bullhook, a weapon used to control animals through pain and fear. Now, after more than five decades of forced performances in the circus, Okha is morbidly obese, struggles to lie down, rise, or even move about, and has been kept in isolation since 2022, when Franzen sent her only two companions to a different facility.

In a letter sent to the band this morning, PETA writes, “There ain’t no rest for Okha. We think you’d agree that she deserves the chance to spend her remaining years in peace with care, dignity, and respect. Lending a rendition of your iconic name for a short while could… help us come a little closer to ending animal cruelty in circuses.”

PETA has organized more than 30 demonstrations on Okha’s behalf, contacted venues hosting animal acts, and rallied tens of thousands of supporters to call for her retirement. PETA encourages everyone to call on venues to stop hosting circuses that use animals and help retire Okha to a reputable sanctuary where she could roam expansive habitats, forage, receive expert veterinary care, and have the companionship of other elephants.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, an elephant is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.