Heads Up! Huge Puppets to Protest Radio City Over Live-Animal Nativity Scenes
For Immediate Release:
December 11, 2025
Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382
To take the push for an animal-free Christmas Spectacular to new heights, PETA supporters will be outside Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday and hoist up giant puppets of sheep, camels, and donkeys—representing the real animals still forced to perform in the show’s live Nativity scene—bearing speech bubbles with messages, “Radio City: End Animal Acts Now,” and “I Don’t Want to Be in Your Damn Show!”.
PETA’s action has the backing of actor Alec Baldwin, who took over local airwaves during the show’s opening week in a new video spot calling on Radio City to stop subjecting animals to the stress of being hauled to the city, confined backstage for months, and exposed to the chaos and confusion of a full-blown stage production. PETA is now rallying its members and supporters to urge Chase, Lexus, and Verizon not to sponsor the show until it goes animal-free.
“All we want for Christmas is for Radio City Music Hall to stop dragging stressed animals across the stage and to stop storing them like props backstage between shows,” says PETA Associate Director of Animals in Entertainment Campaigns Melanie Johnson. “PETA says it’s high time, the right time, to make all spirits bright by dazzling audiences with an animal-free production.”
Where: Outside Radio City Music Hall, 1260 6th Ave., New York (at the intersection of W. 50th Street and 6th Avenue).
When: Tuesday, December 16, 1 p.m.
Why: Camels are social animals who express their feelings with groans, moans, and roars; donkeys can recognize the faces of animals they haven’t seen for years; and sheep’s heart rates increase when they can’t find their family or are approached by strangers. Animals exploited in live Nativities face a constant barrage of activity and are often tethered and made to stand on hard surfaces for hours. Their handlers commonly threaten and intimidate them—many use abusive tools to make them obey commands out of fear of physical punishment. These scenes are also unsafe for humans, since unpredictable, easily stressed 1,500-pound camels especially pose a danger to the public.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
