In the past year SeaWorld has taken a beating from the premier of Blackfish. This film takes you through the story of Tilikum and how keeping killer whales in captivity is a danger to the whales and people. On the Blackfish Official Film Site, they describe Blackfish as “A mesmerizing psychological thriller with a killer whale at its centre, Blackfish is the first film since Grizzly Man to show how nature can get revenge on man when pushed to its limits.”
This month SeaWorld hosts their Bands, Brews, and BBQ at the park. This event has well-known artists performing every weekend. But because of all the Blackfish backlash, many performers have backed out. Even though SeaWorld is holding their own, anti-SeaWorld activists are still trying to deter people from the parks.
Up until this past week the public, and employees of SeaWorld, did not know who was going to perform for their first weekend of the event let alone the rest of them. After releasing the performers Wednesday, There were already people protesting and petitioning these artists by Thursday.
It seems like SeaWorld is going to keep their lineup a secret to avoid having their guests and performers being harassed and petitioned against. Many other big names that were released in advanced have backed out of performing so that they aren’t in the middle of a controversy and other reasons. Anti-SeaWorld activists are going to be around for a long time and SeaWorld has a long road to recovery. What’s their next move? Can they shake the given reputation as harming animals? I personally don’t believe the reputation given to SeaWorld from Blackfish, but I am interested in what SeaWorld is going to do to fix this.
SeaWorld’s “Truth About Blackfish”