Alicia Santurio has seen the jokes.
She’s seen the memes.
And no, it wasn’t Elmer’s Glue.
It was Super Glue.
Santurio, aka #GlueGirl, instantly became a NBA folk legend on Tuesday when she glued herself to the court of the Target Center during the second quarter of Minnesota’s Play-In victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The game was even briefly halted as security and police removed Santurio from the court while players looked on inquisitively.
It was quite the spectacle, eliciting a fervent reaction on social media and speculation on why Santurio would glue herself to the court.
TNT’s Allie LaForce quickly reported during the game that it was a protest and once zapruder-like images of Santurio started popping up on Twitter, it became clear that her shirt read, “GLEN TAYLOR ROASTS ANIMALS ALIVE.”
Glen Taylor is the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and also the owner of Rembrandt Enterprises, a massive factory egg farm located in Rembrandt, Iowa. (Taylor did sell his ownership stake to Alex Rodriguez and billionaire investor Marc Lore in 2021 but they are reportedly buying the team in installments.)
A California Bay Area resident, Santurio is a member of Direct Action Everywhere, “a global grassroots network of animal rights activists,” and was raising awareness about the animal cruelty issues of Rembrandt Enterprises. It's an issue she's so passionate about that she flew from California to Minnesota to make such an emphatic statement.
And while Santurio’s actions may have been quite brash, she’s elated with the reaction following her protest.
“This is an issue no one talks about and now it has a lot of attention on it,” Santurio said over the phone Tuesday night. “We have to get our message out there and the jokes help propel it.”
For Santurio and Direct Action Everywhere, Rembrandt Enterprises’ use of “ventilation shutdown plus” (VSD+), a mass killing method where birds are suffocated by heat or gas, should be the main takeaway of her protest. Direct Action Everywhere was able to capture video evidence of VSD+ being used at Rembrandt Enterprises in 2015 and Santurio’s protest acted as the worldwide debut of their investigation.
The Sporting News cannot independently verify Direct Action Everywhere's claims.
It’s hard to argue with Santurio. #GlueGirl was trending and stories about the protest were posted everywhere.
But how did Direct Action Everywhere and Sanutrio plan this all out?
You would think security would be beefed up with the Timberwolves-Clippers play-in game being on TNT. But funny enough, you would be wrong.
“It was actually pretty easy,” Says Santurio. “There were security guards, ushers and police all around but I just walked down the aisle, turned and kept walking onto the court. I was shocked how easy it was to glue my hand down and stay there.”
Of course, Santurio didn’t stay there very long.
She was quickly and forcibly yanked up by security and police and brought to a room in the Target Center. While there, they asked why she did it and after finding out, gave her a citation that bans her from the Target Center for a full year and let her leave.
No arrest. No jail time. Just a citation.
Santurio was even able to tweet immediately after being let go.
I superglued down to the basketball court to bring attention to the mass killing of chickens at glen taylors factory farm using vsd #Gluegirl https://t.co/m0trPvqZGs
— alicia santurio (@aliciasanturio) April 13, 2022
Not having to go to jail definitely put Santurio in a cheerful mood. But the fact that her protest drew attention to Direct Action Everywhere’s investigation has made Santurio even happier.
“Getting people talk to about the investigation, [Glen Taylor’s egg farm] and ventilation shutdown plus is a win,” Says Santurio. “When you have a win, you have to celebrate that.”
