No ‘Friends’ Here: New PETA Video Exposes 30 Years of Exploitation for Geriatric Monkey in ‘The Righteous Gemstones’

For Immediate Release:
April 11, 2025

Contact:
Allyson Spellman 202-483-7382

In the three decades since Friends introduced the capuchin Katie as “Marcel” on the show, the cast moved onto other TV shows, launched film careers, and enjoyed high-profile marriages (and divorces)—but as revealed in a new video released today by PETA, the now geriatric monkey is still confined to a cage and dragged from set to set for shows like The Righteous Gemstones.

One of the last remaining Hollywood primate trainers, Bob Dunn’s Animal Services, supplies Katie—along with 11-year-old capuchin Allie—to portray a “service animal” on the HBO series, and during filming of the show, the company was issued two citations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failing to meet the most basic minimum welfare standards, which are rarely enforced.

“Monkeys aren’t wind-up toys and audiences don’t want to see them used as the butt of a joke, but The Righteous Gemstones makes it even worse by falsely portraying monkeys as suitable ‘service animals’ or ‘pets,’” says primatologist and PETA Foundation Senior Director of Captive Wildlife Debbie Metzler. “Someone needs to answer for this cruelty, and PETA is calling on HBO to stop exploiting monkeys for stupid stunts and for her trainer to allow Katie to spend her golden years in retirement.”

Katie was first used on the show Friends in 1994 and has been forced to perform ever since, including on the television series How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock. In nature, capuchins like Katie live in rich social groups and race through the uppermost canopies of the vast South American rainforest—but in Hollywood, they’re typically torn away from their mothers as infants, abusively trained, and denied everything that’s natural and important to them.

Studies have shown that depictions in the media of primates alongside humans can increase the demand to acquire these animals as “pets,” which props up unscrupulous primate breeders and dealers. Despite The Righteous Gemstones’ portrayal, the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t recognize monkeys as “service animals,” further highlighting how irresponsible the show’s messaging is.

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.