PETA Apologizes to Giuliani for Parody Ad

A national animal rights group Friday apologized to New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and officially withdrew its antimilk billboard campaign over which the mayor had threatened to sue.

Giuliani, who has prostate cancer, said earlier this week he was considering suing People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals over advertisements that depicted the mayor with a milk mustache next to the caption: “Got prostate cancer? Drinking milk contributes to prostate cancer.”

The ad was a parody of the dairy industry’s “Got Milk?” campaign.

“We hope you will accept our apology for any distress that PETA’s billboard campaign may have caused you,” said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in a letter to Giuliani that announced the group was withdrawing the campaign. “The effort was not intended as an attack on you, and we’re sorry it was taken that way.”

A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said the mayor had not yet received or seen the letter.

PETA did not receive Giuliani’s permission to use his image. In fact, the famously combative mayor has gone out of his way recently to extol the virtues of drinking milk, which PETA claims raises the risk of getting prostate cancer.