Jason Momoa is the latest celeb to be slammed by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
The controversy all started when he posted a video of a bear eating an Oreo out of his mouth.
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Jason Momoa is one dedicated actor.
He’ll get majorly ripped for a role (not that we mind one bit) and even get up close and personal with a grizzly bear!
So close, in fact, that a bear ate an Oreo out of his mouth!
It’s all part of the preparation Momoa has been doing for a fight scene with a grizzly bear in his new Apple TV+ series, See .
In the dystopian series, Momoa plays Baba Voss, a leader in a community where the members are blind.
When speaking with Apple Music’s Beats 1 show, last Friday, he talked about the bear he’s working with.
“It was a Kodiak bear. It stood nine-foot tall. You’re gonna see it in episode two,” the “Aquaman” actor said.
“You have to get it slowly close to you, and be able to interact with it.”
He explained that the bear was even trained to eat a cookie from his mouth.
Talk about skill!
“Once the episode comes out, I’ll put it on my Instagram, when I put a cookie in my mouth. And then he eats it up,” Momoa said.
“You see my face with the little cookie and then this massive head comes into the frame and takes [it] out of my mouth.”
Jason himself seemed to acknowledge how dangerous the stunt was.
“Which is like, ‘Why was Jason Momoa‘s face eaten off? Cause he tried to feed a bear with a cookie.'”
Here’s the video he was talking about:
After the stunt is done, Momoa wipes his mouth and laughs.
While some people were impressed by the video, PETA was definitely not.
Their first tweet slammed the Game of Thrones alum for promoting “wild animal exploitation.”
Then, they explained that the bear Momoa was working with comes from an exhibitor who allegedly provides harsh conditions for his animals.
In their last tweet addressed to the star, they urged him once again to consider working with wild animals.
“Momoa knows how lifelike CGI, animatronics, & other cutting-edge technologies are, but subjecting a bear to the bright lights & bustle of a production set is stressful & totally outdated,” they wrote.
“PETA urges the actor to consider compassion & refuse work with wild animals going forward.”
Some people saw PETA’s point.
“This is so disappointing. Animals are NOT party tricks & they don’t deserve to live in captivity as entertainment for other people,” one wrote .
Many were sharing their concerns about the bear’s well-being.
Another said: “I don’t know about this… don’t wanna see wildlife in entertainment.” It got 127 likes.
This person even straight-up called it “animal abuse.”
“Oh noooooo. 🙁 Please use CG, not wildlife,” another said.
On Twitter, there’s been some backlash to the organization for slamming Momoa.
“Peta. You’ve gone too far. Bears are omnivores for one. It was just one cookie. One cookie won’t hurt a bear. Bears eat out of our trash cans on occasion that bear isn’t suffering,” one user wrote .
They had a suggestion for PETA.
“So Peta you can kindly butt out of this conversation. It was a cookie for crying out loud,” they continued.
Some users even poked fun at the whole situation:
“Look on the bright side at least the bear got a free oreo out of it,” another said .
Of course, the issue isn’t really with the cookie, it’s with animals being used as actors.
While some people thought PETA was taking the whole thing too seriously, others thought that while the video itself was harmless, wild animals being kept in captivity for these purposes is dangerous.
So far, Jason hasn’t addressed any of the controversy.
If you were interested in catching his new series, though, See is now streaming on Apple TV+.
What do you think?
Did PETA take it too seriously, or should Momoa know better than to promote using real animals in filming?
