Billie Eilish's most controversial animal take just made it onto a Times Square billboard
The singer faced fierce backlash for saying you cannot love animals and eat meat, and now her message is plastered across one of the world's most famous screens.
Credit: Lars Crommelinck Photography / CC BY 2.0
In a recent interview with ELLE, singer Billie Eilish - a vegan since the age of 12 - was asked “what’s one hill you’d die on?”, to which she proclaimed that "eating meat is inherently wrong" and "you can eat meat. You can love animals. But you cannot do both."
Facing backlash, Eilish doubled down with Instagram stories depicting violence to animals on factory farms, accompanied by the text: "Go watch a documentary or two and some footage of animals u claim to love and what it does to the planet you pretend to love as well. if that footage was hard for u to watch I encourage you to pls take a look at urself. like I am so tired of standing up for/having empathy for living beings being controversial. pls continue to live in a constant state of cognitive dissonance and denial and try to convince urself that ur not living a lie."
“You can eat meat. You can love animals. But you cannot do both.”
This week, animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) responded by putting up a billboard in New York’s Times Square with the message "Billie Eilish is 100% right: You cannot love animals and eat meat." The billboard is located at 1530 Broadway in New York.
“If you claim to love animals but you’re still eating them, you’re lying to yourself, and Billie Eilish and PETA aren’t afraid to say it,” said PETA President Tracy Reiman.
Another big name coming to Eilish’s defence is Moby, another well-known vegan in music. In a video on Instagram, he says: “What’s so impressive in watching Billie handle herself as this huge public figure is that she uses her platform not just for self promotion but to address important issues, even if it runs the risk of alienating her fans. It’s so impressive watching someone use social media and use media to draw attention to incredibly important issues and to really challenge people. So if I had children, I’d say be more like Billie.”
Billie Eilish is known for her animal rights activism. In November, she organized vegan food drives during her US tour, turned London’s O2 Arena plant-based for her concert, and agreed to wear an Oscar de la Renta dress to the Met Gala on the condition that the brand ban fur from their collections forever.
Nearly 99 percent of meat eaten by Americans comes from factory farms, where they are subjected to crowded conditions, risk of diseases, and painful mutilations. Commonly at slaughterhouses, the stunning doesn’t work properly so animals are still conscious when their throats are slit. PETA notes that the fishing industry also kills billions of animals worldwide every year, causing major destruction to ecosystems.
Despite backlash following the interview, Eilish’s message has also opened many fans’ eyes: some commented, “Billie Eilish made me go vegan” and “Just saw Billie’s Instagram story. I am now a vegetarian.”
Inspired by Billie's message? If you’re inspired to take a stand for farmed animals, join Species Unite’s 30-Day Plant-Powered Challenge. It’s a month of free recipes, tips, and daily emails that help you explore delicious plant-based meals and reduce demand for farmed animals. Sign up here to make a compassionate change, one meal at a time.
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