PETA accuses ‘Hangover 3’ director Todd Phillips of animal cruelty, calls him 'insensitive'

The ever-vigilant animal rights group, PETA, is up in arms over the mental and physical abuses dealt against the animals – both real and CGI – that were used in the anticipated comedy, Hangover 3.

According to RadarOnline, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called out the film’s director, Todd Phillips, for using a live animal – specifically a giraffe – for some of the scenes.

A representative for PETA explained, “Giraffes are extremely delicate creatures who are easily upset and become nervous in surroundings that are unfamiliar and therefore frightening to them.”

What’s more, PETA was angered by Phillips' reason for bringing the wild animal into the studio – to have a reference for a scene in which a CGI giraffe gets decapitated by an overpass on a highway.

A clip of this moment was used in one of the film’s trailers and PETA was furious that Phillips would use animal cruelty as entertainment.

“Phillips filmed a real giraffe in the studio to create the character, an entirely unnecessary stressor for the giraffe, given what is now possible with CGI,” the rep told Radar.

This is not the only film in the Hangover franchise that was marred by accusations of animal cruelty. In the sequel, Hangover 2, a capuchin monkey puffs on a cigarette.

Phillips made the mistake of telling MovieLine in jest that the monkey was trained on set to do drugs and became hopelessly addicted to cigarettes.

The director quickly had to explain the flippant remark, saying, “This was a joke. I make comedies… When you are doing press for a film, it tends to get repetitive, lots of the same questions over and over. Sometimes I like to mix it up with the journalists… There are people on set whose sole job is to protect that monkey. Even if I wanted her to smoke it wouldn’t be allowed.”

Even so, the rep for PETA told RadarOnline that they were unamused by Phillips’ antics.

“We regret that unlike most Hollywood directors, Todd Phillips remains insensitive to what animals are put through to make a film, and that despite evidence given to him about the abuse and stress inherent in training wild animals such as giraffes, monkeys and tigers, he is still including them in his movies.”