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Tom Brady quietly announced this week that his new dog, Junie, is not just a lookalike but a genetic copy of the family’s beloved pit bull mix, Lua, who died in December 2023. The revelation landed alongside a corporate announcement and was framed as a tender “second chance” for a grieving family — but the optics of this elite use of cutting-edge biotech are impossible to ignore.
The cloning was carried out through Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based genetic firm in which Brady is publicly an investor, using a blood sample taken from Lua before her death and the company’s “non-invasive” cloning process. Colossal unveiled the Junie story at the same time it announced the acquisition of Viagen Pets and Equine, the Austin-area outfit famous for cloning celebrity pets.
Viagen and its technology aren’t cheap or obscure: they’ve cloned dogs for other household names and reportedly charge on the order of tens of thousands of dollars for the service, a reality that makes this story less about grief and more about what money can buy. The high-priced, celebrity-driven nature of pet cloning is now squarely in the headlines, with the merger promising to expand the market for wealthy owners who want their grief scientifically reversed.
On Fox News, host Jimmy Failla and his panel turned the story into the sort of culturally sharp moment conservatives live for, asking whether this was a genuine family move or the sort of rich-guy stunt that follows big celebrity splits. The clip and commentary underscore how out of touch it appears when the upper crust spends on boutique science projects while ordinary Americans struggle with rising costs and communities that need help — including no-kill shelters with real animals waiting for homes.
Let’s be frank: there’s a conflict-of-interest smell here. Brady’s investment in the very company that did the cloning raises honest questions about whether this is a private choice or also a PR play to normalize and promote an emerging industry that will profit elite investors first. Americans who value private charity and family values should be allowed to grieve — but we should also demand transparency and avoid celebrity-driven commercialization of sensitive science.
Beyond the Brady headline sits a larger, deeper debate conservatives have to win: do we applaud every technological advance simply because it’s possible, or do we hold a line for prudence, subsidiarity, and moral common sense? Cloning pets might soothe wealthy owners, but it also raises slippery-slope questions about “playing God,” market priorities, and the allocation of resources in a country where ordinary families and shelters could use that money more sensibly. If we’re going to celebrate innovation, let it be innovation that strengthens families and communities — not just another luxury toy for the rich.
