Chimp Crazy: Private Chimp Ownership Sounds Cute Until It Isn’t

Send us Fan MailA cute baby chimp in a diaper is the most dangerous kind of marketing. We dig into Chimp Crazy, the Tiger King-adjacent documentary that turns “exotic pet” curiosity into a straight-up ethics alarm, as we follow Tonka’s story and the adults who keep insisting captivity is love. The more we talk through the court fights, the missing chimp mystery, and the constant rationalizations, the clearer it gets: chimpanzees are not pets, and pretending otherwise has a body count. The mess gets even more interesting when the documentary crew becomes part of the story, forcing the classic question about documentary filmmaking ethics: do you stay neutral, or do you intervene when harm is happening in front of your camera? We unpack why PETA’s legal team matters here, why we end up siding with them (yes, really), and what “best possible outcome” looks like for animals raised in captivity and unable to survive in the wild. If you care about animal welfare, conservation, or the real risks of private primate ownership, there’s a lot to wrestle with. Then we lighten the mood with our usual movies TV shows and video games lane: Mitch reviews the R-rated animated Batman Nightfall Part One, where Bane is finally both smart and terrifying, and Azrael’s arc starts to tee up bigger chaos. We also hit Scandal, the realities of toddler TV (Thomas always wins), what we’re watching next, and our hype check on Marvel, Neuromancer’s cyberpunk roots, Rings of Power, and a stack of upcoming game releases. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review with your take: should private chimp ownership be illegal everywhere?Support the show