Andie Nordgren / CC by 2.0

 

Congrats to PETA pals Kyra Sedgwick, Jane Lynch, and Edie Falco for their well-deserved Emmy wins last night. Another big winner was HBO's Temple Grandin, a film about the life of an extraordinary person who has helped reduce the suffering of millions of animals and advocated for autism education. Helping animals is its own reward, but winning a gold statue has to feel good, too!

Written by Jeff Mackey

One could be forgiven for mistaking this year's list of Emmy nominees for the guest list for PETA's 30th Anniversary Gala. Just look at all these talented PETA supporters:

• Alec Baldwin, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
  It would take less time to list what he hasn’t done for animals, but my personal favorite is his powerful narration of PETA's "Meet Your Meat" video. Alec, if you do decide to retire from acting, the door is always open in the PETA Foundation’s A-V department.
• Lea Michele, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
  We can't stop singing the praises of this break-out star whose voice is almost as big as her heart.
• Edie Falco, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
  The Sopranos veteran knows that crime doesn't pay—especially crimes against animals.
• Kyra Sedgwick, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
  If elephants could vote, they'd certainly choose the kind Closer star.
• Jane Lynch, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
  Personally, I think her adorable PETA spay/neuter ad should have been nominated too.
• Martin Short, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
  Ditto for Martin Short's inspired interview with a demented Ronald McDonald.
• Ricky Gervais, Outstanding Animated Program
  His animated PETA ad is pretty outstanding too.
• Bill Maher, Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series and Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special
  He can find humor in just about anything—except the Canadian seal slaughter (actually, his digs at seal hunters are pretty funny).

Best of luck to you, animal-rights thespians—although I have to admit that I'll also be rooting for fellow William & Mary alum Jon Stewart. Go, Tribe—er—Griffin(s)!

How about you? Feel free to post a comment below letting us know who you think (or hope) will be walking home carrying a little gold-winged woman holding up a medicine ball.

Written by Alisa Mullins

The Emmy Awards are coming up this Sunday, and there are a few nominees that we're going to be rooting for in particular here at PETA. It's a little cruel and unusual of FOX to put three hours of must-see television on, when they know that I will have just spent the entire day struggling through 12 different football games on NFL Sunday Ticket, but duty is duty, and I will be there for the awards. Here are the actors I'm going to be pulling for:

buddytv/Creative Commons

Alec Baldwin
Nominated for: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for 30 Rock
Alec has been an outspoken champion for animal rights throughout his career. PETA's slaughterhouse investigation video, Meet Your Meat, which Alec Baldwin narrated for us, has inspired thousands of people to stop eating animals.

Edie Falco
Nominated for: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for The Sopranos
Edie Falco narrated and stared in our anti-violence PSA, to remind people that cruelty to animals needs to be taken seriously—both for the animals' sake, and because it invariably leads to violence against humans.

Simon Cowell
Nominated for: Outstanding Reality-competition Program for American Idol
Simon Cowell has spoken out on a number of issues on behalf of animals. Most recently, he starred in our Hot Dog PSA, to raise awareness about the dangers of leaving dogs in hot cars, and he also did this beautiful ad to point out that if you like animals, you probably shouldn't frickin' wear them.

William Shatner
Nominated for: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Boston Legal
William Shatner, who has been amazing in Boston Legal the past few years, is a longtime PETA supporter. Among the many things Shatner has done to help animals, he wrote the introduction to Ingrid Newkirk's Making Kind Choices, and he also narrated our PSA about looking out for animals during natural disasters. The guy was also Captain Kirk, for God’s sake. He should get an Emmy by default.

People/Creative Commons

Katherine Heigl
Nominated for: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama for Grey's Anatomy
Katherine Heigl came through for us in a big way this year when she signed our petition to help cats and dogs in California via the Healthy Pets Act. (I would be remiss if I didn’t point out here that she is also just really astoundingly attractive.)

Bill Maher
Nominated for: Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for Real Time With Bill Maher
In addition to being one of the funniest people in America, Bill Maher has worked with PETA on pretty much every animal issue there is. Here's one of my favorite ads with him:

Good luck at the Emmys, guys! And thanks for everything that you do for animals.