PETA chastises Britney Spears over elephants in her video

A while ago PETA said they weren’t going to go after Britney Spears for any of her PETA-perceived crimes against animals – because she had enough problems in her life. And when PETA tells you they’re going to back off because you’re too crazy to handle them, then you know you’ve really hit rock bottom. But it appears that with Britney’s massive mental, physical, and career improvement comes the news that she’s doing well enough to be back on PETA’s attack list. I guess in a way that’s a sign of progress in her case.

PETA is pissed that Britney used elephants in her music video for “Circus.” They compare Britney’s lifestyle of feeling caged to the pachyderm’s literal caging, and say Britney should be able to understand and empathize with the elephants.

Sadly, I still remember the first time I heard Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time.” I was in the eighth grade and TRL was still wildly cool. My skinny, stirrup-tights-wearing, headgear sportin’ 13 year-old self just couldn’t get enough of the song. I remember thinking we had found a true pop princess.

But man, how quickly America’s sweetheart fell from grace. And it wasn’t pretty. Now, at the bottom of the barrel, she’s sporting elephants dressed in circus attire for her new video titled—what else—”Circus.”

As Britney is such a victim of the paparazzi and always complaining and crying about how she hates to be held up in her guarded house and can’t feel free, she of all people should be able to relate to the horror that captive animals go through when they’re used for entertainment. Except Britney chooses to perform, and the lifestyle just comes with it. Animals are ripped away from their mothers at a young age, kept in chains, and prodded with electric shock devices to make them perform. That doesn’t sound so voluntary to me.

Britney is now just an “outrageous” and “toxic” mess. I certainly don’t want her to “gimme more,” and neither do the animals who have been abused so that she can feel “lucky.” Well, we’re not takin’ this sitting down. We’ve got a killer action alert ready for those of you who want to fight with us and tell Brit to stop using animals in her acts, once and for all. Click here to take action today.

I must confess that I still believe she can turn herself around.

[From PETA]

I honestly don’t think much of anything is going to get Britney to take PETA seriously. She seems pretty good at ignoring things when she wants to, and no matter how much improvement she appears to have made, she still has much bigger issues to think about. I can’t help but wonder how many celebrity converts PETA gets through their tactics. If someone went after me with the same gusto PETA does, I’d be more inclined to dig in my heels and tell them to go to hell out of spite. They do seem to have toned down some of their tactics lately: in their published letters appear to try to use reason instead of the threat of paint throwing. But I still don’t think it’ll do any good in Britney’s case.

Here’s Britney performing “Circus” on “Good Morning America” on December 2nd. Images thanks to WENN.

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27 Responses to “PETA chastises Britney Spears over elephants in her video”

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  1. Because I Say So says:

    PETA is beyond ridiculous. Really? This is one of the most important issues facing animal rights? I’m sure her legal team has ensured that their are handlers and probably Humane Society folks on board, just in case. PETA should focus on the things that matter if they want anyone to take them seriously again. I used to support them, but now I spend that money at McDonalds 😆

  2. aleach says:

    I am totally for animal rights and all that, but PETA will go after anyone for anything. its so ridiculous. its almost like they are just picking fights now.
    i have a hard time taking them seriously because of how fanatical they act about EVERYTHING.

  3. daisy424 says:

    Although PETA may use the wrong tactics on getting their message across, they’re right about the abuse elephants endure by circus trainers.

  4. xiaoecho says:

    I agree that circus elephants are an anachronism and it’s time circus animals were a thing of the past

    that said…

    PETA does itself no favours with its strategy of attacking anyone and everyone. They are becoming so ubiqiutous with their complaints that people are tuning out and even becoming alienated. PETA would do well to target heavily one or two animal issues a year. This way they are more likely to get a concrete result. Agitating for the outlawing circus animals would be a good start

  5. Samantha says:

    This is the same group that insisted B & J switch their ice cream from cows milk to breast milk…yeah, I don’t think anyone should take them seriously. Obviously a lack of nutritional diet coupled with the painfully obvious fact that they are missing a few screws only equals one thing people = A group of sickly looking rabies infested psychos who probably believe they are in fact an animal of some sort. I bet a few of them even have mange.

  6. Kaiser says:

    Wait… so… did Brit use circus elephants in her video, or were they, like, union elephants that live in LA and have an agent?

  7. Samantha says:

    ‘Wait… so… did Brit use circus elephants in her video, or were they, like, union elephants that live in LA and have an agent?’

    I believe they are unionized, the EF-U union. (Elephants Forever Union) They have stuck a deal in the form of peanuts.

  8. GirlyGirl says:

    As much as I agree that PETA has made a joke of themselves and they go waaay too far most of the time, I have to say that I agree that the mistreatment of elephants is an issue worth raising awareness about. I have done research on this topic and it’s heartbreaking. Elephants are extremely intelligent animals with extremely complex social systems that humans cannot possibly duplicate in captivity. When you go to the zoo and you see an elephant “dancing”, it’s not something they do for fun… they become neurotic and develop lots of problems. It’s sad and unnecessary. I never thought I would say it, but I’m on PETA’s side this time. Save the elephants!

  9. pissoff says:

    PETA gives the rest of us liberals a bad name.

  10. Rio says:

    Good gravy, Britney’s got serious Rosie O’Donnoll face going on in the second picture.
    And I really don’t understand the point of her using those strap-on headset microphones when everybody on the planet knows she’s not actually singing. 😕

  11. Baholicious says:

    This girl could discover the cure for cancer and people would still find a reason to crap on her…*Coming back from La-La Land*…there’s no reason to use live animals like that when they could be added to the video digitally. I do see the significance of ‘Circus’ = elephants because let’s face it, nobody thinks ‘Cirque du Soleil’ when they hear the word circus. See, now I would have used bears riding motorcycles…

  12. Codzilla says:

    Love elephants. Hate Brit. Team PETA on this one.

    Kaiser: Union elephants 😆

  13. jaclyn says:

    Peta: Leave Britney alone!

  14. lanette says:

    PETA is a joke and they require attention just like celebrities…

    if i were Britney for the next video i would double up on circus animals…especially since it pisses PETA off.

    Where was PETA when PALIN was running?

  15. Kasey says:

    Peta is so annoying.

  16. LondonParis says:

    … Does ANYBODY take PETA seriously? They’re such extremist fanatics. 🙄

    And let’s not forget- they’ve only added published letters to their list of tactics. Lindsay Lohan will certainly tell you- they’ll still douse you with something on the red carpet.

  17. sasha says:

    It saddens me that there are actually posters here who don’t care that circus elephants are beaten with bullhooks, brutally abused and traumatized.

    So what if PETA isn’t perfect? Anything that attempts to end this abuse is better than nothing. Animals are helpless to our abuse and quite simply if humans don’t help them no one else will. We must undo the damage we’ve inflicted on these innocent creatures.

    Besides, Britney lost her mind years ago and hasn’t been anything more than a brain-dead twit ever since. :mrgreen:

  18. hairball says:

    I agree with PETA on what they are about, but cringe at how they go about it. First all, throwing things on people is NOT going to make anyone listen to you.

    I totally agree about elephants or any animals kept in cages or forced to perform. It’s very sad and just not necessary. We look at them, go on with our lives, while they remain suffering.

    I do so much wish PETA would change the way they express themselves. Quoting lines from her songs is so stupid too, as a side note.

  19. Tina says:

    PETA needs to focus on real problems of animal abuse and cruelty. They seem really celebrity-obsessed (like me, except I’m not a multi-million-dollar nonprofit operation!). Maybe go back to trash-talking the Olsen twins or throwing flour on Lindsay Lohan. 🙄

  20. Christina X says:

    Add up here: I don’t agree with how animals are treated in circus-like environments, as it’s very stressful to the animal, but I think I’ve been, once again, distracted by PETA’s tactics, and have more to say about that.

    So, basically…According to PETA’s logic, they were going to wait for Britney Spears to recover and be in the right frame of mind to defend herself from them?

    Surely, it hasn’t stopped them before. After all, if PETA can denounce traumatized holocaust victims, they’re surely soulless enough to lunge at mentally unstable pop stars.

    PETA’s refusal to immediately put Spears on the spot “because she had enough problems” makes it sound like PETA was trying to get a reaction out of Britney Spears because PETA knew damn well that she could give a rat’s ass about what they would’ve had to say, oh, about a year or two ago when she met hit rock bottom.

    The mystery’s been solved. I’ve always wondered what PETA stood for, and now I know. Apparently PETA doesn’t give a rat’s ass about their message any more than they give a rat’s ass about provoking drama focusing on the “negativity” of the opposing view.

    Way to go, PETA. As someone else already asked…the use of circus elephants is disagreeable, but I’m sure that somewhere outside of Hollywood some hick is starving his dog.

  21. piedlourde says:

    People! Watch the first episode of season two of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!. P.E.T.A is a scary, immoral and hypocritical organisation which shouldn’t be supported.

  22. Aspen says:

    PeTA is more than imperfect. They are detrimental to the promotion of very real animal rights issues.

    They are anti-hunter, even though hunters and hunter organizations are some of the most conscientious and educated wildlife conservationists in the world.

    They are constantly busying themselves with castigating people like Lindsay Lohan over a fur stole and Britney over some elephants in her videos or putting horrifying pictures in little meal boxes and tricking parents into giving them to their children as happy meals…it goes on and on.

    They make REAL animal rights activists fight 10 times harder to even get someone to LISTEN.

    I hate PeTA…and I’m a bleeding heart animal rights gal who would do almost anything to stop the meat industry, the circuses, and domestic pet abusers from their mistreatment of God’s creatures.

    So…eff PeTA. Hug a hunter, support a wildlife preserve, and buy organic local meat from a humane farmer. OR…go veggie. Works for a lot of us.

  23. Lola says:

    PETA needs to go. NOW. Doing crap like this undermines everything legitimate they ever achieved.

  24. Cletus says:

    Yeah! PETA are nuts.(HAHAHHA, see what I did there? Elephants? NUTS? WHOO!) I like animals, and I don’t like much, but PETA is like a charicature of what it’s supposed to be. Fuckabuncha PETA.

    Also- E-FU….. NICE!

  25. kate says:

    regardless of what you think of peta, britney should not have used elephants in her video. i don;t think she’s a bad person, she probably just wasn’t thinking. hopefully now maybe she will.

  26. Erin Chatelain says:

    It made me so sad to see all those animals in her Circus video. I had no choice but to get on the net and vent my anger and frustration. She is so ignorant!! She’ll do anything for ratings, but I do beleive that because of her choices she will never become a classic, she’s made too many enemies. She’s officially a hollywood brat without a conscience and no heart. She deserve all the pain that she suffers.

  27. Erin Chatelain says:

    And as for PETA going to far sometimes…that is absolutely unfair!!! What about the millions of people who go too far everyday by abusing animals. Remeber animals do not have a voice, and if you actually beleive PETA goes to far, then you are not an animal activist and you’ll probably continue to eat burgers and eventually die of high cholestorol-good riddance!