From Alec Baldwin to Giant Puppets: Inside PETA’s Campaign Against Radio City’s Animal Acts

Giant “camel” displays in Times Square. Melancholy toy soldiers on stilts. Elves hauling wheelbarrows of coal. Alec Baldwin calling for change. PETA is giving Radio City Music Hall a holiday spectacle it cannot ignore, all to make one point ring louder than the Christmas bells: Camels, sheep, and donkeys are sensitive individuals, not stage props. 

Behind the sequins, precision kicks, and bright lights of the Christmas Spectacular, animals endure stressful transport to Manhattan, confinement backstage, and the commotion of crowds, noise, and chaos. PETA is challenging that tired practice with an ever-growing parade of imaginative pressure, from the sidewalk to the screen. 

Here are some of the campaign’s biggest scene-stealers: 

A Shocking Look Behind the Curtain

PETA released an insider photo showing a camel confined backstage in a dim, cramped room with a low ceiling, far from the vast spaces these animals would naturally roam.

The image gave the public a rare glimpse into conditions hidden from audiences, who see only a few minutes of the animals’ appearance onstage.

Alec Baldwin Speaks Out

Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin joined PETA’s campaign with a public letter urging Radio City Music Hall to retire animals from the show. “Please ensure that this year’s show will be the last that uses animals and give this archaic practice a high kick out of your production and into the history books,” he wrote.

Baldwin later teamed up with PETA for a powerful video campaign explaining why there’s nothing festive about transporting sensitive animals, storing them backstage, and exposing them to crowds, lights, and noise.

The ad ran on streaming television and across social media, reaching New Yorkers and tourists alike.

PETA’s Elves Haul a Holiday Wake-Up Call to Radio City

Elves turned heads outside Radio City, pushing wheelbarrows piled with coal and delivering a message sharper than any candy cane: Animal acts have no place in a holiday show. Other animal defenders filled the sidewalk with signs demanding an end to animal acts, showing passersby that compassion belongs at center stage.

A Cruelty-Themed Makeover

PETA gave the Christmas Spectacular logo a jarring makeover that cut through the holiday sparkle and exposed what animal acts mean for those forced to perform.

The eye-catching spoof posed a question Radio City cannot dance around: Why would a production famous for breathtaking choreography cling to an animal act stuck in the past?

Tens of Thousands Turned Up the Volume

Tens of thousands of PETA supporters flooded Radio City with appeals to stop using live animals. They also urged sponsors, including Chase, Lexus, and Verizon, to reconsider their support until Radio City ends animal acts.

Each message adds another voice to a chorus that is becoming impossible for decision-makers to tune out.

Toy Soldiers Step Up for Animals

Two towering PETA supporters dressed as melancholy, Rockette-inspired toy soldiers converged outside the venue on stilts. Their sky-high presence transformed the sidewalk into a stage and made the animals’ plight part of the opening-night conversation.

Giant Puppets Create a Spectacle

PETA supporters took the animals’ message to new heights by unveiling enormous puppets representing the sheep, camels, and donkeys used in the Nativity scene.

The larger-than-life creations stopped pedestrians in their tracks and proved PETA’s point in unforgettable fashion: If puppets can command a New York sidewalk, imagine the wonder that magnificent imagery could create on the stage.

Santa Put Radio City on the Naughty List

A merry band of PETA Santas rolled out a giant naughty-list scroll outside Radio City, calling out the venue for storing animals backstage and urging executives to give live-animal acts the boot.

It was festive, theatrical, and impossible to miss, exactly the kind of holiday message Radio City should take to heart.

A Giant “Camel” Took Over Times Square

PETA’s message spread far beyond Radio City’s doors when a towering camel display appeared in Times Square while additional campaign messages dominated a massive wallscape, kiosks, and taxis throughout the city.

PETA Offers Radio City a Showstopper

PETA did more than expose the cruelty. We offered to fund a beautifully crafted custom camel puppet if Radio City retires the live camels, sheep, and donkeys from the show.

Broadway productions such as The Lion King have already demonstrated that sophisticated puppetry can bring animals to life while sparing real animals the stress of performance.

Taking the Campaign Directly to Shareholders

PETA also purchased stock in Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., Radio City Music Hall’s parent company, to take the campaign straight to company leaders and investors.

The Show Must Go On—Without Animals

The Christmas Spectacular already has everything it needs to astonish audiences: the Rockettes, glittering costumes, precision choreography, and unforgettable staging. Using live animals only adds suffering.

With celebrity support, tens of thousands of public appeals, larger-than-life protests, citywide advertising, and shareholder pressure all building, Radio City has a golden opportunity to create a truly spectacular holiday tradition, one powered by artistry, imagination, and compassion.

Help keep the pressure on: Urge Radio City Music Hall to retire the live camels, sheep, and donkeys from the Christmas Spectacular and replace the animal acts with dazzling, animal-free theatrical magic.