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This is not a scene from auditions for a Saturday Night LIve sketch or Let's Make A Deal audience members who are lost. It's PETA protesting the fact that The Jay Leno Show is sponsoring a McDonald's Monopoly contest.

I don't know much about this controversy, but I really enjoy eating chicken.

If you came here from Google after searching for "Andy Dick," "Ronald McDonald," "chicken," and "machete," then this is the post for you. Andy Dick teamed up with PETA to protest in front of the offices of McDonald's about the way the company treats their chickens. Looks a little bit like a low-budget version of The Dark Knight. More pics here.

The late Bea Arthur was, among other things, a comedic genius, feminist icon, and beloved American actress of stage and screen. But widely overlooked in the recent coverage of her passing is the fact that she was a active advocate for animal rights. She campaigned against the force-feeding of ducks in the foie gras trade, even accompanying the president of PETA to London, where she demanded that Harrod's discontinue their peddling pâté.

There's a joke here involving cucumbers I'm sure, but I'm much too mature to think of it. Feel free to make one up yourself.

NBC has pulled a PETA ad that was going to run during the Super Bowl, because it "depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards." Hey, what about subjecting viewers to those people on The Biggest Loser? And they usually have their tops completely off. This particular commercial shows various lingerie models getting all frisky with broccoli and pumpkins (pumpkins??). I guess it is pretty sexual, though I've seen edgier things on daytime soaps.

Funny how there is always a few controversies when it comes to these Super Bowl ads, either before they run or after the fact.

PETA says that they don't understand why the ad was pulled when ads for chicken and burgers are OK even though they make you "fat" and "boring in bed." As an eater of chicken and burgers, I resent that.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were all set to unveil their new ad starring Alicia Silverstone when the city of Houston decided that the spot was too hot for the Texas airwaves.

The spot features Silverstone skinny-dipping in a pool and extolls the virtues of a vegetarian lifestyle by showing off the body that her meatless choices have given her.

According to PETA, Houston is one of the highest-ranked cities in terms of bad eating habits. Comcast cable stated that the brief nudity was the reason for pulling the ad, even though it had already been bought and paid for.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today: on TV Squad Daily:

• Flat vs. round! The ladies on The View even argue about the shape of the earth.
  
• Anyone who's anyone loves nerds this fall.
  
• Alicia Silverstone's new naked commercial about being a vegetarian is already banned in Houston.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

While trying to keep up with all the casting news for the Wachowski brothers feature-length, live-action Speed Racer adaptation, I missed this bit of news.

As I've written before, the character of Chim Chim, Speed's monkey pal, would be played in the movie not by some animatronic 'bot or CGI creation, but by an actual flesh and blood chimp. Unfortunately, the chimp bit an actor on the set and was beaten, or so PETA was told, and the animal rights group sent a letter to producer Joel Silver asking him to stop using a real chimp.

Last week, I mentioned that Pamela Anderson was set to pose nude in the window of Stella McCartney's London store to publicize her involvement in PETA, the animal rights group. Well, that little event happened Wednesday night. What, you didn't think she was going to go through with it? Phsaw, I say. You don't know our little Pammie very well, do you?

Anyway, the story goes like this: Pam was hosting the PETA Awards, which were being held at McCartney's store. After giving the last award, she ripped off her dress and posed nude -- except for a flesh-colored G-string, according to this story -- with two other models (who had bikinis on) behind a banner saying "I'd rather have bare skin than wear skin," or something like that. (Really, the slogan could have said "Tony Blair is a git" and no one would have noticed) More pictures of this party can be found here. Another picture of Pam's stunt, showing some weird bruises on her shoulder, can be found here.

[via Netscape]

Pamela Anderson really goes all the way for PETA, doesn't she? She's posed for naked cards and written letters of protest to governors (she wanted the Col. Sanders statue taken down in Kentucky because of the way KFC treats chickens). Now she's going to pose naked.

Yeah, right, big deal; everyone's seen her naked. But this time, she'll be naked in the window of Stella McCartney's clothing store in London. She is putting on the show, where she will be displayed with other naked models, to protest the use of fur in fashion. The display will last for about ten minutes.

Or you can just pick up about a dozen back issues of Playboy, or that video with Tommy Lee, and just say to yourself "Yeah, fur sucks." Same difference.

[via Netscape]

Roy Horn, half of the famous magic duo Siegfried and Roy, was performing in Las Vegas in 2003 when a white Bengal tiger shot him in the head. Wait, sorry, actually the tiger bit him. The attack, thankfully, did not kill Horn, but it ended the long-running show and left him partially paralyzed. Three years later, you may have thought you'd heard the last of it, but now PETA has filed a federal lawsuit demanding records compiled by the USDA concerning alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act. USDA claims releasing the records would violate the privacy of witnesses, but PETA claims USDA has no choice under the Freedom of Information Act. The USDA issued its final report last year, citing no official reason for why the animal attacked. You know, except for the fact it's a freakin'  tiger.

At least, that's what PETA is saying. The animal rights group conducted an online poll and Kristen Bell, the actress who plays the titular lead in Veronica Mars, was chosen as the sexist female vegetarian, with Prince taking the male honor. Other celebs who made the list include Natalie Portman, Nicollette Sheridan, Anne Hathaway, J.D. Fortune,  Michael Ausiello, and Joaquin Phoenix. Absent from the list? That's right, the North American grizzly bear. I'm pulling for you next year, Grizzy! I know you've got the will power in you!

[via Give Me My Remote]

I don't think I've ever anticipated an American Idol theme night more than this. Like many of you, I typically hate the theme nights. It feels like someone stole the song selection book at a karaoke bar, and left only one page for drunken patrons to choose from. But I was excited for tonight --simply because I thought it would suck. I thought it would be a disastrous mess of awkward and uncomfortable song choices and bad Freddie Mercury impressions. And, I was absolutely convinced that Taylor Hicks would wear a fake moustache (a semi-gray fake moustache, of course). But tonight was pretty good. It was entertaining to say the least.

Don't get me wrong. At times, it sucked. But more trying to drink a McDonald's thick shake through a straw suck, than Dyson vacuum suck. There was something very triumphantly sucky about tonight and I loved it.

Martha Stewart's daughter, Alexis, is on a mission to get horse-drawn carriages out of New York City. She recently wrote a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg to ban the attractions. Stewart is a member of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), a group that is very upset over a recent collision between a vehicle and a horse-drawn carriage. The carriage driver was seriously injured in the crash, as was the horse, which was euthanized. Stewart contends that horses are forced to work long hours in unpleasant weather, on hard pavement, and breathe in polluted air from all the cars on the streets. She also says they happen to be a danger to pedestrians and others who use the streets and sidewalks of New York. Operators of horse-drawn carriages argue that the horses are treated well and that the horse-car crash on January 2nd was a fluke.

First, she goes to rehab. Then, her ABC soap-drama life as we know it gets cancelled. And now she's got to face the wrath of PETA. Does the bad press ever end for Kelly Osbourne? The animal rights organization is coming down on Ozzy's middle child for reportedly dying her dog's fur pink - most likely to match her own, uh, "punk-inspired" look. A PETA spokesperson said, "It is very irresponsible to subject a 13-week-old puppy to chemicals that most people aren't willing to put on their heads." But did anybody stop to think about what the dog wants? What does the dog want?!?!?!!!