Nearly 21 million people watched "Blackfish" when it aired on CNN in October. The documentary, produced by Magnolia Pictures and acquired by CNN Films, recounts the 2010 death of veteran SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau by a killer whale named Tilikum, a 12,000-pound bull. The film challenges the concept of keeping killer whales for entertainment and implies Tilikum had been driven to madness by captivity. In the months since, a firestorm of debate over the controversy erupted. Social media exploded with an outcry to boycott SeaWorld, the world's largest marine park operator. Protesters not only lined the streets outside SeaWorld Orlando in Florida, the company's flagship park, but the streets of New York and Pasadena during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rose Parade.
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"Blackfish" tells the story of a SeaWorld trainer who died in 2010
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The movie sparked heavy backlash against the marine park company
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SeaWorld calls movie "one-sided," an exploitation of trainer's death
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The park announced record 4th-quarter, annual revenues in January
"Blackfish is billed as a documentary, but instead of a fair and balanced treatment of a complex subject, the film is inaccurate and misleading and, regrettably, exploits a tragedy that remains a source of deep pain for @placeholder's family, friends and colleagues," SeaWorld said in a statement.