Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘Big Chicken’ Opening ‘Nets’ Vegan Proposal

PETA Invites Shaquille O’Neal to Vegan Wing Feast in Hopes He’ll Add Animal-Free Offerings to the Menu

For Immediate Release:
October 4, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Shaquille O’Neal recently revealed plans to open a second location of his Big Chicken fast-food restaurant in Los Angeles and eventually to make the chain national, so PETA sent him a letter this morning with a game-changing proposal: Add vegan options to the menu and score big. To help persuade Shaq not to drop the ball, PETA also offered to treat him to a meal of vegan chicken wings in order to show him just how satisfying and delicious flesh-free food can be.

“Shaq has an opportunity to help meet the booming demand for vegan fare, protect animals and the environment, and make a slam-dunk business decision,” says Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “PETA is urging him to embrace the next big thing, and that’s vegan dining.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to Shaquille O’Neal follows.

Dear Shaq,

We read about Big Chicken’s second location, and we have a great idea! Let’s partner together to get you in on the vegan chicken craze that’s sweeping the country.

As an investor in Beyond Meat, you probably heard that when vegan chicken recently debuted at a KFC location in Atlanta, it far outscored the sale of traditional nuggets and sold out in just five hours. And for good reason: Between 2014 and 2017, there was a 600% increase in people who identified as vegan, leading Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, Subway, Dunkin’, TGI Fridays, Blaze Pizza, and other major chains to add vegan meat to their menus. Even fellow celebrity-run restaurants in Los Angeles already offer winning vegan options, including those owned by LeBron James, Ryan Gosling, Travis Barker, Moby, and Roy Choi.

And think of the game-changing effects that vegan food has on our health. Eating vegan can help guard you against today’s biggest killers, and it’s the best way to recover from injuries, prolong your game, and turn over the risk of developing heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. It also greatly reduces the likelihood of suffering a stroke, which African American men are at the highest risk of. There’s also the Earth to consider. The Amazon rainforest is on fire because of cattle ranching and the rising demand for soy crops—the vast majority of which are fed to animals raised for food, including chickens. For these reasons and others, major professional athletes—such as Kyrie Irving, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Morgan, and many others—are going vegan to improve their performance.

We know you love big ideas, and this one’s a slam dunk. We’d love to team up and take you out for vegan wings to show you just how delicious they can be. Please let us know when you’re free.

All the best,

Rachel

PETA