An animal rights activist attempted an odd protest at Tuesday night’s NBA play-in game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves, gluing herself to the court’s floor during the second half.
The protestor, later identified as Alicia Santurio, was wearing a shirt that said “Glen Taylor Roasts Animals Alive.” This is in reference to the egg farm owned by Glen Taylor, the owner of the Timberwolves, at which 5.3 million birds were allegedly killed last month due to a bird flu outbreak.
Santurio belongs to an animal activist group called Direct Action Everywhere, which claimed responsibility for this “protest” in a press release, accusing the farm of killing the birds via ventilation shut down. “It is a slow and painful death characterized by asphyxiation,” the group described in its press release.
In the TNT broadcast clip below, there is a comical series of events as the announcers try to figure out what was happening on the court. At first, the announcers thought an arena worker had fallen or fainted on the court, but soon the fans began booing the woman which led the announcers to realize something else was going on.
The announcers were then informed that it was a protest and asked sideline reporter Allie LaForce what she was able to see from down on the court.
“I was just told by security that she apparently had glue, and she glued herself to the floor,” reported LaForce. “And she refused to lift her wrist up and – I don’t mean to laugh, but, this really happened – she glued her wrist to the floor and they were trying to pull her off and she was resisting, trying to keep her wrist glued down to the floor.”
A fan was escorted off after attempting to glue themselves to the floor during the Clippers-Timberwolves Play-in Game pic.twitter.com/RreK0kjPSG
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2022
A woman attempted to glue her hand to the court during the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Clippers play in game at Target Center. #Twolves pic.twitter.com/50QC1GtxVe
— Carlos Gonzalez (@CarlosGphoto) April 13, 2022
thinking elmers glue would adhere your hand to painted wood in mere seconds is galaxy brain pic.twitter.com/rL3Ykc3bju
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 13, 2022
In a statement on Twitter from Santurio after the incident, she wrote that she was trying to “bring attention to the mass killing of chickens at glen taylors factory farm using vsd.”
I superglued down to the basketball court to bring attention to the mass killing of chickens at glen taylors factory farm using vsd #Gluegirl https://t.co/m0trPvqZGs
— alicia santurio (@aliciasanturio) April 13, 2022