Written by Michelle Kretzer
Joan Jett is nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, but she's already snagged one coveted award: PETA's Nanci Alexander Activist Award. The top-notch animal advocate for whom the award is named is also the proud owner of one of South Florida's premier vegan eateries, Sublime. Every year, celebrities and PETA supporters pack Sublime and celebrate one dedicated advocate—and Joan is well deserving of the honor.
She's been working to end animal suffering for years, including launching PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit at newsstands in New York City, protesting McDonald's cruel chicken-slaughter methods, and recording a rocking video vegetarian testimonial. She even used this opportunity to unveil yet another PETA campaign: her new vegetarian ad.
Joan's new PETA ad is just like her: smart, hip, and animal-friendly.
Fellow animal-friendly rocker Iggy Pop presented Joan with her award amid a rousing chorus of cheers and applause. "If there's anything I love more than rock 'n' roll, it's animals," said a smiling Joan.
Iggy Pop and Joan Jett rocked the party.
And Joan wasn't the day's only winner: Spanish-language TV host Marco Antonio Regil picked up a "One Can Make a Difference" Award for his efforts to promote vegan eating.
Telemundo star Pablo Azar congratulates Marco.
He recently narrated Paul McCartney's meat industry exposé "Glass Walls" in Spanish, making it accessible for Spanish speakers around the world.
Leona Lewis and James Cameron are the latest compassionate celebrities to embrace vegan eating. Not surprising on either count, since James, who won a PETA Proggy Award for the animal-friendly film Avatar, said he planned to grow crops on his 2,500-acre rural New Zealand property, and Leona, a Sexiest Vegetarian alum, won't wear animal skins and unceasingly advocates for animal rights. Of the choice to eat vegan, James said, "It's not a requirement to eat animals, we just choose to do it, so it becomes a moral choice and one that is having a huge impact on the planet, using up resources and destroying the biosphere."
A very eloquent case for vegan eating, indeed.
© StarMaxInc.com
Adoption advocate Lance Bass spoke about his healthy eating convictions as well, saying of veganism that he is "getting close." He said the work he has been doing planting gardens with schoolchildren has inspired him: "I was eating way too much more protein and not enough veggies, and now I've completely changed that in my diet. … It's amazing, and I feel so much better, completely much better."
PETA UK's disturbing new undercover footage of foie gras farms is enough to make anyone go vegan. Celebrities were fired up on Twitter about British retailer Fortnum & Mason's cruel sale of foie gras and about other animal issues:
While these celebs rocked Twitter, another animal advocate was getting a rocking honor: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and for the first time, voting is open to the public. Cast your vote for Joan, who never misses an opportunity to raise her powerful voice against cruelty to animals.
To keep up with what all the stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
After hearing that Noel Gallagher expressed excitement about teaching his sons to "throw stuff at cows," Joan Jett called out the former Oasis frontman, stating:
"This guy is a putz! I am embarrassed he is Irish and from [the] same county as my grandparents on my father's side. Maybe if this bully wants to throw things, he should try throwing something at somebody who can fight back, like me."
We'll keep you updated on whether Gallagher decides to pick on somebody from his own species. Meanwhile, elsewhere in celebrityland, plenty of other stars are throwing their support at animals, including Alec Baldwin, who unveiled his new circus exposé for PETA at a news conference in New York City.
And Kellan Lutz revealed his PETA billboard in Los Angeles to his Twitter followers in a picture that's worthy of its own bedroom wall space.
In other vampire/werewolf news, PETA buddies Famke Janssen and Eli Roth are working together on Netflix's adaptation of the otherworldly novel Hemlock Grove. You can bet that this will be an animal-friendly set.
Photo by Andrew Southam/Weiss Artists Inc. For The Cloutier Agency: Hair by Charles Dujic Makeup by Tracy Sondern Styling by Heidi Meek Props by Darren Ransdell
And "animal-friendly" also describes the set that Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt shared while making Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Ewan told Conan O'Brien that his rescued dog Sid loved going to work with him, and he even attached a sidecar to his motorcycle for toting Sid along.
First dog Bo Obama is always right in the middle of his family's adventures. Michelle Obama told David Letterman, "He is my son. I have two girls and a boy."
Sophia Bush's US Weekly magazine list of "25 Things You Don't Know About Me" includes her rescued pit bulls Patch and Penny. Sophia has a huge heart for animals, and we hope all of her #LittleVoices join her in supporting animal adoption!
Here's something that you may not have known about Diane Keaton: In her new memoir, Then Again, she talks about being a vegetarian for the past 25 years. Join Diane in going vegetarian—order a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit here, and help save animals, protect the environment, and preserve your health.
Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Geoff Blum announced that he did a vegan cleanse that helped him drop 10 pounds and recover from knee surgery. We hope his vegan adventure continues, so we're sending him a copy of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness by Robert Cheeke for tips on how to stay fit for the field on a plant-based diet.
Keep up with the latest celebrity animal news by following @PETA on Twitter.
Where can you see Bryan Adams rubbing elbows with Leo Tolstoy and Russell Simmons hanging with Leonardo da Vinci? Only on PETA's limited-edition postage sheet from Stamps.com—the sheet honors some of the most influential and recognizable vegetarians throughout history.
Bob Barker and Pamela Anderson—two of the celebrities whose faces will soon be crisscrossing the U.S. on envelopes—unveiled the new postage this morning at the Hollywood Post Office.
Addressing the swarm of clamoring reporters, Pam said, "I'm just happy to be here and happy to be associated with PETA. … [M]y mom is very proud of this." And the inimitable Bob Barker joked, "I was happy to do it when they told me I didn't have to die in order to [be on a stamp]!"
The postage sheets are available at PETA's online store, just in time to grace your holiday cards with a reminder to loved ones to think before they eat.
Written by PETA
Rock icon and animal advocate Joan Jett's version of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" topped the charts, but one thing Joan doesn't love is the Edmonton Valley Zoo's refusal to release its lone elephant, Lucy, to a sanctuary. Ahead of her performance in Alberta on Saturday, Joan sent a letter to Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel and the zoo's director, Denise Prefontaine, reminding them that every moment that Lucy remains in Edmonton is a misery. Joan writes, "This animal is basically being tortured. I urge you to please release Lucy to a sanctuary before the unbearably cold Canadian winter weather returns this year."
Edmonton officials should follow the lead of their colleagues in Toronto, who overwhelmingly voted by a 31-4 majority to send the zoo's three elephants to sanctuary.
Elephant experts agree that if elephants are not with others of their kind, these highly intelligent and social animals experience psychological distress, and Lucy has been the only elephant at the Edmonton Valley Zoo for more than four years. The cold climate and confinement to a small barn have also contributed to Lucy's poor health. She suffers from arthritis, obesity, chronic foot ailments, and respiratory problems, all of which would likely improve if she were able to join other elephants at a sanctuary with a more appropriate climate and miles of open space to roam.
Please join Joan, Bob Barker, William Shatner, George Laraque, PETA, Zoocheck, and the thousands of compassionate Canadians who are campaigning for Lucy's freedom by clicking here to contact Mayor Mandel and the Edmonton City Council right now.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
This whale of a tale is true: Dolphin activist Hayden Panettiere traveled to the White House to thank President Obama for asking Iceland to ban hunting whales and exporting their meat. Fellow ocean-animal advocates Richard Branson and basketball legend Yao Ming are calling for a ban on shark-fin soup in China, where 95 percent of the cruel fare is served.
Yao Ming isn't the only athlete taking action for animals. After being vegetarian for four years, Toronto Maple Leaf Mike Zigomanis has gone vegan as part of his effort to become healthier, stronger, and a better player.
Congratulations to glowing vegan mom Emily Deschanel, who gave birth last week to her first child, son Henry Hornsby. A rockin' congrats also goes out to the inimitable Joan Jett for her well-deserved Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination. She loves rock and roll … as well as chickens, cows, seals, pigs, elephants, and rabbits.
Another award we couldn't help but crack a smile about—furry Kim Kardashian was voted the most annoying celebrity. Maybe kind sis Khloe can teach her how to be more popular.
Speaking of popular—Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Maher, and other celebs helped make PETA's White House spay-and-neuter petition one of the first to reach 5,000 signatures and go to the president for review by tweeting about the dog and cat homelessness crisis. You can join Ellen, Bill, and many others in sending a strong message about the importance of spaying and neutering by signing the petition too.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Iggy Pop had a few choice words for Norway's minister of foreign affairs before his performance in Bodø this week, expressing his disgust at the government's support of the Canadian seal slaughter.
A single company in Norway—which has received funding from the Norwegian government for years—buys a whopping 80 percent of Canada's seal pelts. Norway is also joining Canada in contesting the European Union's ban on seal product imports, and both countries want the hearings on the issue to be held behind closed doors.
I've seen a lot of vile sights in my days, but few were as dark and twisted as the beating of helpless baby seals for their fur ... If Norway has nothing to hide, there should be no problem with making this process public. —Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop, along with Joan Jett, Sarah McLachlan, Pamela Anderson, and many others, has called for an end to Canada's seal slaughter, and you can too.
You didn't think Joan Jett would rest on her laurels after personally delivering an anti–seal slaughter letter to the Norwegian government earlier this week, did you? The rock icon has now set her sights on the San Diego County Fair, which is offering elephant rides from Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT)—a name synonymous with cruelty to animals—at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, where Jett is scheduled to appear later this month. Jett dashed off a letter to fair organizers on PETA's behalf urging them to send HTWT packing.
I've seen the video footage released by Animal Defenders International that shows the owners and trainers with HTWT as they hit elephants as hard as they can with bullhooks and use electric shocks on the animals' bellies," writes Jett in her letter. "You can hear a grown elephant who bellows in pain and a baby who cries out while being jabbed repeatedly in the mouth and hit over the head. Please don't allow the reputation of the fair to be tarnished by its support of cruel elephant rides.
You can help by joining Joan Jett in urging the San Diego Fair to abandon its plans to offer cruel and dangerous elephant rides.
Written by Alisa Mullins
As Norway and Canada prepare for a World Trade Organization hearing on their appeal of the European Union's ban on seal imports, rocker Joan Jett personally delivered an urgent letter on PETA's behalf to the Norwegian minister of foreign affairs calling on Norway to make the hearings and submissions public. Just one Norwegian company purchases 80 percent of the pelts from Canada's seal massacre, and this company has received funding from the Norwegian government for years.
Norwegians and kind people everywhere have the opportunity to weigh in on this issue by submitting comments to the WTO panel deciding the case, and I hope that they will join me in demanding that the government not allow Norway to be a partner in the largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planet ... For a country so compassionate that it would ban fur from fashion shows, supporting Canada's seal massacre just seems ridiculous.
Jett joins Canadians Pamela Anderson and Sarah McLachlan in requesting that the hearing and submissions be made public. If you have a heart for seals, jet on over to CanadasShame.com to help stop the slaughter.
PETA's party for New York Fashion Week was a smashing success, even by Fashion Week standards. Hosted by Project Runway's Tim Gunn and Olivia Munn, the celebrity guests included Taraji P. Henson, Joan Jett, reality stars Lo Bosworth and Stephanie Pratt, and fashion designers Todd Oldham, John Bartlett, and Marc Bouwer, plus many others. They all partied at Stella McCartney's chic New York City boutique while listening to tunes spun by DJ Lady Bunny and munching on delicious vegan hors d'oeuvres.
Tim, looking dashing as always, screened the riveting anti-fur video that he narrated for PETA and spoke about how killing animals for their fur is never in fashion. "I'm on a campaign to get as many fashion designers as possible to stop using it," said Gunn. "I'd just like to sit with them and have a talk and ask, 'Is it really necessary?'" And when Tim Gunn talks about fashion, people listen.
Henson, the latest beauty to bare it all for animals, unveiled her sexy new ad and told the party attendees that she stopped wearing fur after channel-surfing and coming across the "I Am an Animal" documentary about PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. What she saw changed her entire perspective on fur, and she resolved to help others see the light."You don't have to kill an animal because you want to be hot and fly," she said. And she promised the crowd to keep on pushing to get fur off the streets.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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