Written by Jeff Mackey
Got your dancing shoes on? Several of PETA's celebrity supporters do, and they've been showing off their best moves on ABC's Dancing With the Stars (DWTS). The animal-friendly folks tripping the light fantastic this season include the following:
Andy Dick
Before he began cutting a rug on DWTS, this compassionate comic took on the cutting-up of animals for dissection and (with a valuable assist from Martin Short) hilariously showed the unfunny side of a certain fast-food clown in his memorable spots for PETA.
Karina Smirnoff
The lovely professional dancer dazzled us in her PETA ad declaring that she'd rather dance naked than wear fur!
© StarMaxInc.com
Kellie Pickler
The country chanteuse (who's also fur-free) has been wowing the judges with her moves and winning over viewers with her sweet smile—not to mention the fit physique that earned her PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Alive title. Being good to animals is good for your body, too!
Zendaya Coleman
Zendaya has already shown that she has all the right moves on Disney's Shake It Up—and by helping PETA help animals with a fundraiser at the vegan-friendly Millions of Milkshakes.
Carrie Ann Inaba
This PETA pal, who is seated at the DWTS judges' table, partnered with her beloved late cat, Shadow, in a stunning ad promoting spaying and neutering to end the animal-overpopulation crisis.
Keep on dancing, y'all—we'll be cheering you on every week. To us, though, everyone who steps up for animals is a Mirror Ball winner!
Written by Michelle Kretzer
How tweet it is: Ricky Martin announced to fans over Twitter that he's gone vegetarian! To help the singer get his bon-bon in top form, PETA sent him a vegetarian/vegan starter kit, copies of "Glass Walls" in both English and Spanish, and a cookbook of vegan recipes for Latin food lovers, Viva Vegan.
A little birdie also told us that many other celebrities were tweeting for animals this week as well:
Maybe Ricky will start his twin sons out on the healthy veggie path, too? Emily Deschanel is doing just that with her little one, Henry: She told Mother Nature Network, "We are raising Henry vegetarian; he will be mostly vegan and always have a choice in the matter, but we will educate him about why we make the choices we do with our food."
And vegan racecar driver Leilani Münter is putting her cause célèbre on the fast track. After the success of her Cove–themed racecar last season, this year Leilani is aiming to burn rubber in a vegan-themed car that will expose 80 million NASCAR fans to the benefits of plant-based foods.
After we're done cheering for Leilani, we'll be switching the channel over to this season of Dancing With the Stars to root for our buds Andy Dick and Kellie Pickler.
And when the cameras were pointed at Russell Simmons during New York Fashion Week, they may have gotten more than they bargained for. One of animals' greatest defenders, Simmons took the opportunity to express his feelings about fur:
I did see something that hurt my heart and it has nothing to do with Max [Azria] only, it has to do with the whole industry: the use of so much fur. And my first instinct was it must be fake—because it hurt my heart. … I just wish that all the designers would reconsider because there's such great Italian fake fur, there's such great Japanese fake fur, so much beautiful fake fur.
To keep up with what Russell and all your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
Martina Navratilova is no stranger to winning, and we think she could soon have a victory under her dancing shoes, too, on season 14 of Dancing With the Stars.
The tennis titan's determination has served her well both on the court and off. Rallying against cruelty to animals, she has been working with PETA since 1995, when she starred with a turkey friend in our "Live and Let Live" vegetarian campaign.
Since then, Martina has helped with fur giveaways at homeless shelters, criticized Australia's live export and mulesing of sheep, asked universities to halt their cruel "gay sheep" experiments, criticized Atlanta Pride for holding a noisy party at an aquarium, and much more.
Martina's never been one to step lightly around important issues. She saves her fancy footwork for the tennis court—or the dance floor.
Catch her in action tonight on Dancing With the Stars at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Written by PETA
Get ready to tap your feet—the two-hour season premiere of Dancing With the Stars airs tonight on ABC, and as usual, PETA pals are strutting their animal-friendly stuff.
Just a week after she unveiled her "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" ad, Elisabetta Canalis will make her Dancing debut, and she's rumored to be the early favorite. When asked if Elisabetta's PETA ad would help in the competition, her partner Val Chmerkovskiy said, "I don't know if it will help us, but I do hope it helps PETA. Before I found out that Elisabetta was involved with PETA, I was astounded how conscious she was about animal cruelty and how passionate she was about helping animals involved in any sort of mistreatment."
Fellow animal advocate Ricki Lake could be a serious contender too. She proved she has determination when she was arrested after storming Karl Lagerfeld's showroom to demand that the designer stop using fur. And spay-and-neuter advocate Metta World Peace (aka: "Ron Artest") might put his fancy footwork to good use off the court and pull off an upset.
Elisabetta, Ricki, and Metta World Peace are in good company. Previous DWTS rosters read like the guest list at a PETA fundraiser. Pamela Anderson, Cloris Leachman, Steve-O, Joanna Krupa, Kelly Osbourne, Lance Bass, Jennie Garth, Audrina Patridge, Belinda Carlisle, Holly Madison, Mario, Shanna Moakler, Karina Smirnoff, and even judge Carrie Ann Inaba all know that the most important steps you take are those that help animals.
Good luck, Elisabetta, Ricki, and Ron! We'll be rooting (and voting) for you.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Lovely Dancing With the Stars pro Karina Smirnoff graces the May cover of Playboy magazine. But before she was a Playboy bunny, Karina stood up for bunnies killed for their fur in a steamy ad for PETA.
As Karina shows, the sexiest thing that you can wear is compassion. Be a honey for bunnies and sign PETA's Pledge to Be Fur-Free.
After making comments implying that Dancing With the Stars contestant Kirstie Alley was a pig, George Lopez tried to apologize, saying that he "misjudged the joke." Kirstie wasn't buying the too-little, too-late act. Well Kirstie, we would have rejected the apology too, and here's why:
REL Waldman/cc by 2.0
Pamela Anderson is appearing on the Israeli version of Dancing With the Stars this season, and she never misses a step when it comes to speaking up for animals. This week, Pamela sent an impassioned letter to Israeli Minister of Religious Services Yakov Margi urging him to support a bill that would ban (!) the fur trade in Israel. Pamela joins compassionate reggae singer Matisyahu, who sent a letter to the Israeli government earlier this year in support of the ban. Sir Paul McCartney, Brigitte Bardot, and several members of the British Parliament have also spoken out in favor of the bill.
Writes Pamela, "After watching just a few moments of this PETA video, surely you will agree that the ways in which animals suffer and die in the fur trade violate Jewish principles, which strictly prohibit causing unnecessary suffering to animals." Israel's largest newspaper reported on Pamela's letter (on the back page, which is the section that most Israelis read first), informing thousands of readers that animals are bludgeoned, electrocuted, and skinned alive for their pelts. Let's hope that Minister Margi takes Pamela's advice and votes to make Israel the first country to prohibit the production, sale, and importation of all fur products!
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
Even though Bristol Palin will be shaking her moneymaker all over the Dancing With the Stars stage this fall, she can't seem to stop talking about how she'll be wearing the "most modest outfits" on the show. Now, proving that the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, Bristol is following in the blood-soaked footsteps of her grisly mama, Sarah—who never met an animal she didn't want to kill (or so she would have us believe)—by insisting that the show's costumers cover her stretch marks with massive amounts of fur.
OK, Bristol—first of all, despite all your supposed concern for your modesty, everyone knows that when Levi said, "If you loved me, you would," you gave it up faster than your mama gave up the governorship. So, honey, that tacky cruise ship has sailed. And covering yourself with animal pelts is not only immodest, it's also obscene. Luckily, PETA has confirmed that no real fur will be used on Dancing With the Stars.
Know of any other folks who don't "get it" about fur? You might want to keep some of these handy.
There has never been a shortage of animal rights supporters on ABC's hit show Dancing With the Stars, and season 11 will be no exception. Vegetarian singer Michael Bolton is as easy on animals as he is on the ears, and funny lady Margaret Cho told the audience at PETA's Millennium Gala in Hollywood, "[Fur] is really ridiculous. It's outrageous. We're not living in igloos. We don't need to trade pelts anymore." As for what The Hills' Audrina Patridge thinks about buying animals from pet shops, we'll let her tell you herself:
Which animal-friendly hoofer will get your vote?
Written by Alisa Mullins
Over the years, Cloris Leachman has won numerous awards for her acting (my fave: Nurse Diesel). Her fancy footwork drew applause (and kisses) on Dancing With the Stars. And the longtime vegetarian turned heads everywhere when she became one of PETA's Lettuce Ladies.
Now Cloris is drawing rave reviews for her appearance in a hilarious public service announcement promoting spaying and neutering. Condoms may be effective birth control for humans, but they don't work for dogs and cats. She wants everyone to know that curbing suffering for millions of animals is a snap: One SNIP can prevent the birth of as many as 420,000 cats in just seven years or 67,000 puppies in six years. That's why she wanted to make this spot the performance of a lifetime. Watch the outtakes and try to tell me that this woman isn't a comedic genius:
Cloris is positively glorious, but she can't do it alone. She needs your help in educating the masses about the importance of spaying and neutering—from your front yard and beyond.
Written by Karin Bennett
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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