EXCLUSIVE: PETA persuades 'Dancing With the Stars' to cancel chimpanzee act
An announcement on Monday night's "Dancing With the Stars" revealed that a chimpanzee would be among the guest judges on the following night's program.
PETA cited concerns about how great apes are separated from their mothers, beaten and shocked in training, and discarded once they become too large to handle safely.
"If I had been aware of the information you outlined below I wouldn't have proceeded with the shoot in the first place, so I've decided on balance to re-cut the package we use in tonight's show to remove any footage of the chimpanzee" Conrad wrote. "While I can't undo the fact that we did shoot with a chimpanzee I will be sure we don't do this again in the future."
Keep reading for the whole "DWTS" correspondence to PETA:
Dear MichaelBravo to Conrad and to "DWTS" for immediate action on this issue!
Sorry for the rush but I've drafted this e-mail that I've been sending to people today. We're pulling the chimp elements from the piece -- I wasn't aware of these issues.
Thank you for your e-mail. We decided to use the chimpanzee for a package today and taped the package last week. While I didn't personally attend the shoot, I'm assured that throughout the shoot the chimpanzee seemed happy and well-treated. We have followed the network's broadcast standards guidelines in the setting up of this shoot and the process was overseen by the American Humane Association. We really have tried everything we can to ensure that we did this the right way and would never have proceeded if we thought that the animal was in distress or being ill-treated.
However, I wasn't aware of the information you have kindly provided about the way that chimpanzees are sometimes treated when trained for entertainment purposes. While I have no reason to believe that the chimp we used was treated in this way I do appreciate your point that showing a chimpanzee on our show may indirectly lead to other chimpanzees being ill-treated in the future. If I had been aware of the information you outlined below I wouldn't have proceeded with the shoot in the first place, so I've decided on balance to re-cut the package we use in tonight's show to remove any footage of the chimpanzee. While I can't undo the fact that we did shoot with a chimpanzee I will be sure we don't do this again in the future.
I hope this allays your concerns and I appreciate you getting in touch with me. We would never intentionally harm an animal in the process of making our show, and I hope you can continue to enjoy Dancing With the Stars in the future. I may send this e-mail to other people who have objected to the use of a chimpanzee on the show... I hope you don't mind. I'm rather pressed for time today and can't craft an individual response to everyone!
Yours sincerely
Conrad Green
Executive Producer
Dancing With the Stars
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thank you :)
They should have left the chimp in. The segment was already shot, the chimp was treated well, and it wouldn't be their fault in the least if someone else decided to treat chimps badly. It's stupid to take blame for what other people might potentially choose to do.
So if someone does something but soon after learns that what they did promoted cruelty to animals they should just shrug their shoulders and say "Oh well!" Had DWTS used the segment with the chimp they would have helped perpetuate the notion that using animals for entertainment is acceptable. When you know better, you do better. DWTS' producer had the decency to recognize that he was not fully informed about how animals are treated and did the responsible thing. Had he opted to leave the chimp in, he would have been sending a message that animal cruelty is okay. Instead, he had conviction to help end it.
I think that it was a good idea to keep the chimp off the show. Some people may argue that people won't do what they see on TV, but depending on what the chimp was doing, people might want to try. They would buy their own chimp, try to train it, get frustrated, and abuse the animal. You might say that it is unlikely, but that is what the average american would do.