from Earth First! NewswireThat wily old Texan, Willie Nelson, cancelled his gig at SeaWorld yesterday after his granddaughter exposed him to a petition asking him not to play there.
Nelson spoke with CNN yesterday about the issue, explaining “I understand that there are some natural-habitat zoos out there, which is probably OK. But what they do at SeaWorld is not OK.”
The drummer of Bare Naked Ladies recently advocated against SeaWorld as well, after seeing CNN’s recently aired the documentary ‘Blackfish’ about Tilikum, a captive orca that killed its trainer. The film exposes the plight of captive whales, which are succeptible to bullying by other whales and neglected by care givers.
Nelson admitted that he can understand why captive animals feel angry, like a captive monkey “wanting to throw stuff at you.”
“I don’t agree with the way they treat their animals,” said Nelson. “It wasn’t that hard a deal for me.”
The hard dealin’, wrangling and rolling Willie Nelson turned 80 years old this year, and shows no signs of wearing down. Some of his bigger hits include “Crazy,” famously sung by Patsy Cline, and “On the Road Again”). His famous tours with Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings are legendary, as is his long-time advocacy for small farmers and decriminalization of marijuana.
Last year, Willie joined 300,000 people in suing Monsanto with the “Occupy the Food System” movement.
