Video: Celebs React in Horror to Footage of Primates Suffering in Laboratories

For Immediate Release:
July 8, 2026

Contact:
Hannah Nelson 202-483-7382

“The least we could do is stop this bullsh*t,” says an outraged Gavin Rossdale while watching footage of a screaming monkey trapped inside a tiny cage in the laboratory experimentation industry. The reaction comes as celebrities—including reality stars Chrishell Stause, Courtney Stodden, and Sam Asghari—sat down with PETA to watch real footage of animals used in painful tests as Congress considers a ban on the importation of monkeys destined to suffer a similar fate.

Sitting in front of a monitor, each celebrity watched actual video of suffering primates being used in invasive and terrifying experiments, including tearing baby monkeys away from their mothers for psychological experiments and forcing thick plastic tubes up monkeys’ nostrils to pump experimental chemicals into their bodies.

“There’s so many other options and ways to do testing that doesn’t involve innocent animals,” says a visibly shaken Stause. Stodden echoes, “Why are we torturing them? Why are we doing this?”

Introduced by U.S. representatives Greg Steube and Dina Titus, the Preventing Risky Importation of Monkeys to Avoid Toxic Exposures (PRIMATE) Act would also prevent the introduction of dangerous and drug-resistant pathogens, including those that cause tuberculosis, malaria, and measles. In 2025 alone, more than 22,000 primates were brought from Asia and Africa to the U.S. after being bred on squalid factory farms or abducted from their forest homes, pushing some species toward extinction. Many even die during capture or transport—crammed into tiny wooden crates and flown in the cargo holds of airplanes.

In nature, macaques live in large, tight-knit groups, travel several miles each day exploring diverse habitats, and cuddle together in their favorite “sleeping trees” at night.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.