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Brett Gelman takes a new role, and SeaWorld may not add him to the workforce management. The “Stranger Things” actor plays a fictional SeaWorld trainer in a new one PETA video that turns a cheerful workplace introduction into an increasingly uncomfortable comedy sketch. His character coaches new recruits to put a positive spin on the animal welfare concerns raised by the organization. But as the excuses pile up, even Gelman’s trainer struggles to keep smiling.
The campaign also goes beyond the screen, with mobile messages planned near SeaWorld’s Halloween events in Orlando and San Diego.
Brett Gelman opens his mock training session with a random introduction
Gelman doesn’t spend much time setting the tone in the parody PETA has made. “Welcome to SeaWorld, the place where we jump on dolphins and call it conservation,” he said. Playing an employee tasked with teaching newcomers how to interpret what visitors see, Gelman delivers increasingly harsh descriptions of animal behavior.
Orcas float motionless becoming an example of an “aquatic reflection.” Dolphin fights in crowded tanks are presented as “unlikely friendships”. The sketch focuses on the language used to sell marine animal attractions, with Gelman’s character trying to turn every problematic situation into something reassuring.
In the end, the action of progressive workers falls apart. “I like my job, I like my job,” he said.
Gelman says that animals do not choose to be hosts
Away from the fictional training session, Gelman offered a simple explanation for joining the campaign. “These animals are not meant to be our hosts. We’ll leave it at that [actors]. We choose that. No,” he said.
The comment, shared by PETA exclusively with The Blast, draws on his own career to explain his objection to the performance of animals.
Gelman’s video uses the uncomfortable comedy that fans of his work love, but his message beyond the sketch is very real. He wants audiences to consider the difference between an actor accepting a job and an animal being held for public display.
PETA is bringing the campaign to SeaWorld’s Halloween crowd
The video is part of a campaign aimed at people planning a night out at SeaWorld. According to PETA, Gelman will also appear in large mobile messages circulating the company’s San Diego and Orlando locations ahead of their Howl-O-Scream events.
The group links their message to the parks’ seasonal scares, arguing that the animals suffer long after visitors have finished their Halloween fun. PETA says its concerns include protection, inadequate tankards and injuries due to aggression between animals.
The group also provided figures saying that more than 40 orcas and 500 other dolphins and whales have died at SeaWorld facilities over the years. He says there are still 16 orcas and 130 dolphins across the San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio parks.
Dolphin breeding is a prime target of the spoof
Gelman’s opening joke speaks directly to one of PETA’s main complaints, SeaWorld’s dolphin breeding program. The group criticizes the collection of semen from male dolphins and the artificial female animal. He also claims that women are sometimes harassed during the process.
SeaWorld’s own educational materials confirm that artificial insemination has been used in its bottlenose dolphin breeding program since 2003. The company describes the practice as a way to maintain genetic diversity without transporting dolphins between parks. His materials also state that the reproductive techniques developed through this work can be used for other animals, including endangered species.
PETA is strongly opposed to breeding more dolphins in captivity. Gelman’s parody takes that disagreement into its first line, and then builds the rest of the sketch around the group’s broader criticism of life inside the tanks.
SeaWorld Ended Orca Breeding, But Adoption Debate Continues
SeaWorld announced in March 2016 that it was ending its orca breeding program and that the animals in its care were already the last generation of killer whales.
The company also announced a move away from orca theater shows to shows focused on education, enrichment, exercise and health. At the time, they said the remaining orcas would continue to live in their enclosures with veterinary care. That decision had to do with orcas. SeaWorld’s published materials continue to describe their individual bottlenose dolphin breeding program.
PETA’s latest campaign makes it clear that ending orca breeding has not resolved its complaints about keeping marine mammals at parks.
