Bending to fan opposition over animal rights, Canadian rockers Barenaked Ladies have dropped an upcoming concert gig at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla.
“We’ve talked things over, and decided not to play at SeaWorld at this time,” the Toronto band said on its Facebook page after an online petition started by Canadian Mike Garrett urged the Barenaked Ladies to abandon a planned Feb. 15, 2014 marine park concert.
The petition gathered nearly 12,000 signatures before the Barenaked Ladies took note and responded.
The tipping point for the rockers was viewing Blackfish, the CNN documentary by Gabriela Cowperthwaite that questioned the safety record at SeaWorld and was picked up for distribution by Magnolia and CNN Films after bowing at Sundance.
“Hey everybody. We watch movies too, ya know! Have you seen Star Trek IV? It’s quite good. Kidding … We sometimes do that,” the Canadian band said, addressing what they termed a “complicated issue” with humor.
Garrett, based in St. Catharines, Ontario, claimed victory over the decision by the Barenaked Ladies to reconsider the concert date.
“The world has changed and people are seeing places like SeaWorld and Marineland for what they truly are: ‘abusement’ parks that profit off the suffering of animals rather than the family destinations they make themselves out to be,” he said on his website.
