Pete Davidson’s Notorious Voicemail Inspires PETA Halloween Costume to Help Dogs

For Immediate Release:
September 6, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Trick or bleep! After comedian Pete Davidson’s expletive-ridden voicemail to PETA inadvertently sparked a national conversation about the importance of “adopt—don’t shop” (i.e., adopting animals from shelters instead of buying them from pet stores as he did), PETA is announcing a limited-edition Halloween costume of the star, featuring a paper mask of his face with a “#$@!%” baseball cap, a plush dog wearing a “Shelter Dogs Rule” bandana, and a hoodie with “I Should’ve Adopted” printed on it. The unique get-up is available for preorder PETA Shop, and all proceeds will go toward spay/neuter surgeries to help fight the homeless-dog overpopulation crisis that breeders exacerbate.

“It’s too late for Pete to undo his puppy purchase or that voicemail, but it’s never too late to save a dog’s life by choosing adoption and shunning pet shops and other dog breeders,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA trusts that the ‘King of Staten Island’ will see the joke in having everyone dress like him this Halloween, all for a good cause: fixing homeless-animal overpopulation.”

PETA notes that around 70 million dogs and cats are homeless in the U.S. at any given time and that all breeders contribute to the overpopulation crisis and deny animals in shelters a chance at finding a loving home. That’s why PETA advises guardians to have their animal companions spayed or neutered and asks everyone to adopt. Anyone set on finding a dog of a specific breed can go to shelters, where at least a quarter of dogs are “purebreds,” check with breed-specific rescue groups, or search Petfinder.com.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.