Muffed Pun: Lingerie Football League Teams Up With PETA to 'Tackle Cruelty: Bench Fur'

Every day we receive dozens of press releases here at Seattle Weekly. Most are boring and promptly deleted, but occasionally one PR blast sets itself apart from the others by being so hilariously tone deaf that we have no choice but write about it. Today, that press release comes courtesy of the lingerie football league and the animal rights activists at PETA.

At first blush, it may seem like the lingerie football league and PETA don't have all that much in common, but there are certainly similarities. Chief among them is that both are desperate to generate attention for their respective endeavors. And so it is that a group of women who beat up on each other in skimpy underwear for the enjoyment of spectators came to stand on a corner in downtown Seattle protesting the use of fur in designer fashion.

Faux sport + faux fur = faux pas

Every publicity stunt needs a slogan, and on this occaison the two groups in question decided to go the pun route. "Lingerie Football Players Urge Seattle Shoppers to 'Tackle Cruelty: Bench Fur'" trumpeted the message that arrived in our general news inbox.

They're known for wearing only lingerie while playing full-contact football, but now the brave women from the Lingerie Football League's Seattle Mist are teaming up with PETA in order to tackle cruelty. In a special PETA demonstration to be held on Wednesday, 10 of the athletes will appear in their uniforms and hold signs that read, "Tackle Cruelty: Bench Fur," to encourage all Seattle residents to leave fur off their shopping lists. Among the participating athletes are former Playmate Chelsie Jorgensen and Angela Rypien, the daughter of Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien.

"Wearing fur is a personal foul," says PETA Campaigner Katie Arth. "With so many stylish, warm, and durable fabrics available today, there's no excuse for wearing anyone's skin."

Behind every piece of fur is an enormous amount of animal suffering. Animals who are killed for their fur are trapped, drowned, beaten, electrocuted, or even skinned alive...

Never mind that the "brave women" in question are as much athletes as the men on the professional bowling circuit, or that fur isn't much of an issue these days (as PETA writes later in the same press release: "Many top fashion designers and retailers...are 100 percent fur-free.") What's most unfortunate about all this is that "Bench Fur" will probably end up being used as an even less clever pun shouted from the stands the next time the Mist's quarterback throws an interception.

Should you care to gawk at the aforementioned spectacle, the "protest" is scheduled to start at noon on the Southeast corner of 4th Avenue and Pine Street.

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