Someone finally apologized to the penguins. It's funny until it isn't
By the time Simon Pegg reached the end of the letter, everyone was quiet
In 2004, Tony Cross wrote "An Open Letter to Penguins," apologizing for the way humans have made a caricature of them over the years. The letter was read to the public on Earth Day, April 22, 2026, at a Letters Live (@LettersLive) event by English actor, comedian, and screenwriter, Simon Pegg. When Pegg began reading the letter, people thought they were in for an amusing one. However, by the final paragraph, the laughter had completely disappeared from the room. The video was shared on June 13, 2026, and has garnered 35,086 views, 2,500 likes, and 74 comments since.
Sorry for the tuxedos and polka music
Pegg walked onto the stage and began with, "Dear Penguins," and the crowd already synced with laughter. The apology letter began with Cross admitting that humankind had viewed the majestic birds in a "ridiculous light," especially on TV and news articles. However, despite the majority who think penguins are silly, Cross assured them that "many of my kind take you quite seriously." He apologized for making fun of their color and claiming they wear tuxedos. He apologized for associating their kind with polka music, even though that genre of music is "not playing all the time in Antarctica."
Dark comparisons
He also apologized for the "klutzy" clips humans showed on screen. Cross's dark justification was, "The adults of my species feel that if we show your kind to be humorous and klutzy, our children will laugh and laugh and then will not want to kill you as much as they might otherwise desire to do so." Coming to a more serious part of the letter, Cross apologized for comparing them to torpedoes (underwater missiles). He wrote, "Though I can see the similarity, it goes without saying that to compare a group of peace-loving birds to instruments of war and destruction is appalling." However, if penguins did the same for humans, he believed the "comparison would be apt."
The biggest thing Cross was sorry for
Lastly, he acknowledged the destructive effects of human greed and apologized in advance. He wrote, "We are sorry about the ice. We know it is melting. And while we do want to preserve your habitat so we can forever watch your amusing escapades, we have decided instead to slowly cook our world for self-serving purposes. We are truly sorry, penguins. The day will come when we will miss you dearly." The joke landed differently once people realized Cross wasn't just apologizing for making penguins look silly. He was apologizing for the fact that humans have known for years that climate change threatens their survival.
On April 9, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed emperor penguins from "Near Threatened' to 'Endangered." With the rapid climate change, the population of emperor penguins is predicted to decrease by half in the 2080s. Satellite images also revealed a loss of around 10% (around 20,000 adult penguins) of the population between 2009 and 2018.
The ice was already melting 22 years ago
The comment section was a mix of people who thought the apology letter was hilarious and a few who saw a deeper message behind the comedy. @OktoberStorm commented, "Great delivery by an awesome actor — very sad message as well." @Hela_of_an_eccentric added, "I don't want to fondly remember penguins, I want to protect them and our planet so future generations get to marvel at them too."
You can subscribe to Letters Live (@LettersLive) on YouTube for more reading content.
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