The NFL’s season opener between the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills was interrupted when two protestors ran onto the field in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a pink smoke bomb.
One of the protestors was tackled near the middle of the field while the other was met near the Rams’ 20-yard line:
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Though some fans speculated it may have been a gender reveal considering how the smoke was pink to indicate a girl being born, the incident appeared to be part of a protest.
According to the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, who claimed responsibility for the protest on social media, the shirt read “RIGHTTORESCUE.com”.
The same group was also involved in a protest during the 2022 NBA Playoffs when a protester glued herself to the floor on the Minnesota Timberwolves’ home floor.
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In its press release of the incident, the group claimed its “investigators Paul Darwin Picklesimer and Wayne Hsiung rescued two sick piglets from Circle Four and documented dead and diseased piglets languishing in their mother’s feces and injured adult pigs physically unable to stand.”
Picklesimer and Hsiung were charged with multiple felonies, including breaking into the farm, and a trial on the matter is slated to begin on Oct. 3 in St. George, Utah, according to the press release, which is why the protests occurred on Thursday.