This week saw two high-profile activist actors in the news. Alec Baldwin decided to join PETA in the organization’s plea for Americans to boycott circuses, such as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, which uses elephants in their acts.
If you’ve read any of my previous PETA blogs, you know Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey have previously come under attack before for its alleged mistreatment of elephants. This dates all the way back to 2009 when PETA conducted undercover, multi-state investigations on animal handlers. The owners of the circus, Feld Entertainment, paid $270,000 last year for being in violation of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), although the company never admitted to any wrongdoing.
Baldwin, no stranger to controversy, made a four minute video for PETA’s website asking for a boycott. In the video, he says, “Having worked with actors for many years, it’s hard to believe that anyone would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into show business. But for the elephants for Ringling Bros. and other circuses, that’s exactly what happens.”
While Baldwin was in the news for his PETA video, George Clooney was in the new for his arrest. That’s right, the actor turned in his award show tux for a jail uniform.
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Not really, but Clooney, his father Nick, comedian Dick Gregory, United to End Genocide President Tom Andrews, civil rights activists Ben Jealous and Martin Luther King III, and several members of Congress were arrested Friday for protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.
They were there to urge President Barack Obama to ask China to help stop the situation in the Sudan. Clooney and the others feel that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is causing the humanitarian crisis by blocking food and aid into the country. Clooney had met earlier in the week with President Obama about this situation.
Clooney was release from jail after posting a $100 bond. He will not face a future court date for the arrest.