Wyatt Cenac Of 'The Daily Show' Mocks PETA For Lawsuit Comparing SeaWorld Orcas To Slaves (VIDEO)

Is SeaWorld's treatment of its killer whales comparable to slavery?

That was the claim being made in a lawsuit by the People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals, which argued that keeping the huge mammals in captivity violated the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits slavery.

Last night, Wyatt Cenac of The Daily Show jokingly needled the animal rights organization for the analogy. "So you're the Freedom Riders of the Whale Liberation Movement?" jokingly asked Lisa Lange, a PETA spokesperson.

PETA filed the lawsuit on behalf of the orcas in the U.S. District Court in San Diego last fall, and said that the whales "were forcibly taken from their families and natural habitats, are held captive at SeaWorld San Diego and SeaWorld Orlando, denied everything that is natural to them, subjected to artificial insemination or sperm collection to breed performers for Defendants' shows, and forced to perform, all for Defendants' profit. As such, Plaintiffs are held in slavery and involuntary servitude."

PETA's attorneys argued that the Thirteenth Amendment does not concern itself with any particular species. But the federal judge hearing the case wasn't really feeling that reasoning: last week, he threw out the lawsuit.

Comments

[mark1966]

09:04 PM on 02/16/2012

You must be running out of articles,HP,what a bunch of crap

[elcerritan]

02:17 AM on 02/19/2012

PETA-phile?

[felixthecat]

08:41 PM on 02/16/2012

Whaz his name Cenac isn't funny. Never is and Never will be. shame on he is so little to belittle the actual suffering of the whales. He isn't a victim but seems to play the race card for some points. i guess that is what his "no career" ended up

[SusanElizabeth1949]

12:57 PM on 02/18/2012

The California Judge gave the PETA suit the appropriate consideration. And I found this hilariousness -- LMAO off at the PETA spin miester getting served with her own sauce.

[SanJoaquinValleyGrower]

06:36 PM on 02/18/2012

Does the truth hurt boo boo?
I found it hilarious & spot on.

[elcerritan]

05:29 PM on 02/16/2012

"Is that her real name or her slave name?" LOL!

This one is as good as the time Asif Mandvi took on Neil Barnard from PCRM (aka the "medical" wing of PeTA.

[wildisthewind]

04:47 PM on 02/16/2012

It's good to see Wyatt Cenac and the Jon Stewart show pointing out the outlandishly hypocritical irony of PeTA's unconscionably offensive conflation of slavery and Seaworld.

It's too bad that this bit wasn't on the front page, as usual. Like virtually every pro-PeTA puff piece here is. Considering that I appear to be the first commenter, after this has been up for several hours, I am assuming that it may have been buried on purpose.