James Cromwell Takes Aim at Harris Teeter’s Ties to Turkey Abuse

For Immediate Release:
November 9, 2021

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

With Thanksgiving just around the corner and turkeys from Plainville Farms—where a PETA exposé revealed workers kicking, stomping on, and beating turkeys—still on Harris Teeter’s shelves with “humanely raised” labels affixed, Babe and Succession star James Cromwell is hitting local airwaves as a priest who refuses to absolve the man who invented the term “humane meat.” The TV spot concludes by telling viewers, “Abused turkeys sold at a store near you. See the undercover video at PETA.org/Turkeys.”

“Any ‘humanely raised’ turkey on Harris Teeter’s shelves might have been kicked or beaten,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “The only humane meal is a vegan one, and PETA encourages everyone to celebrate this year’s holiday with a delicious ‘ThanksVegan’ feast that leaves animals off the table.”

Plainville’s workers were recorded routinely kicking and stomping on scores of turkeys, trying and failing to break turkeys’ necks and leaving them to convulse and die in agony on the floor, beating turkeys with a heavy rod, throwing hens at one another, and miming sex acts with the birds. Following PETA’s exposé, Whole Foods dropped Plainville as a supplier, but the company’s products are still sold at Harris Teeter stores. As “Father” Cromwell says in the TV spot, “Oh, for the love of God, we have to draw the line somewhere!”

PETA’s video will run on WBTV during the 5 and 7 p.m. news broadcasts and during On Your Side Tonight through November 24—the day before Thanksgiving.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a ThanksVegan guide on its website with recipes, shopping tips, and more. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.