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You can imagine how delighted we were when Russell Simmons received the "I Am Hip Hop" Icon award on last night's BET Hip-Hop Awards. The Icon award is presented to an individual who has made "notable contributions of outstanding significance to the hip-hop community," according to CNN, and Russell definitely fits that description! He was specifically recognized as a "philanthropic inspiration to other artists." Oh, yeah—we can testify to that!

Russell has lent his tremendous star power to many worthy PETA causes. He's stood up for dogs and against dogfighting, he's a vegetarian who wants to kick KFC's bucket, and he spoke out against foie gras last year.

So, not only is Russell generous to the five charities he personally heads—that's right, five—he's always got time to help animals.

So congratulations, Russell! You are one icon well deserving of an award.

Written by Amanda Schinke

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We were kind of bummed when we saw a picture of The Killers in which Dave Keuning, the guitarist, was wearing a big ol' furry jacket. "Oh no!" we thought, "and with us so looking forward to their new album." As you can imagine, there were sad faces all around—but not for long!

When we emailed Dave, his rep told us that not only was the jacket totally faux, but also that the entire band is against fur and completely fur-free! This is awesome. It looks like The Killers agree with the long list of stars who refuse to promote, ya know, genital electrocution and other such lovely aspects of the fur industry.

So The Killers are against fur? Hmm … "Rather Go Naked" ad, anyone?

What? Don't look at me like that. You were thinking the same thing … right?

Written by Amanda Schinke