Fur lover and R&B singer Kelis posted a blogpost on her official MySpace profile this week altering her fans to the fact that she received a critical letter, personally addressed to her, from the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. As you might imagine, PETA took great issue with Kelis‘s penchant for openly wearing and proclaiming her love for fur and decided that she needed a stern talking-to to try and get her to change her ways. Kelis, instead, responded to the PETA letter with an official statement of her own. Here is the full text of Kelis‘s response to PETA regarding her decision to wear animal fur:
Good morning all!
Ok, so you’re gonna love this. The other day I got a personalized letter from PETA! Lol so after some thought I’ve decided to write one back. Goes a little something like this:
There is no humane way to kill anything, let me start there. It’s unfortunate but it’s part of life. With that being said, I would eat pterodactyl if you found some and you told me it was meaty and delicious. And after doing a very minimal amount of research……. I found out that the founder Ingrid Newkirk is completely batty. I had a feeling but she far exceeded my expectations. I mean certifiably insane! Lol this chicks will is nuts, google it – it’s a riot! Beyond the fact that I think she’s a diabetic, which means she needs insulin, which is taken from lab pigs (I know this because my sister happens to be in veterinary school), which would be completely hypocritical. It’s like don’t abuse animals unless it can help me.
I feel very strongly about a lot of things such as the sweatshops that spin cotton and the blood on their hands. Btw it’s not just the look of fur. It’s warm as hell and feels glorious, ever rubbed faux fur on your body? Nothing luxurious about that. Then the letter proceeded to name artist and designers who don’t wear real fur. Great! More for me! I don’t judge them, don’t judge me.
The rest of Kelis‘s letter to PETA continues after the jump …
If I started wearing endangered animals like polar bear or orangutan then talk to me. (Which btw for the record I would not – I do believe in the preservation of endangered species) But the minks and chinchilla that quite honestly are rodents and if weren’t in the form of a coat I would demand they be put to death anyway are not an issue to me.
The death of high fashion. Ugh.
I eat meat, and in fact my mouth salivates as I type the word meat! And the paint throwing that’s just ridiculous! What if I was hurling Loubitons and Pierre Hardy’s at every sad poorly dressed person on the street? As right as I may be it’s just fanatical and crazy. And people have the right to feel as they please. What about art? Survival of the fittest. Natural selection? No let’s just let all the rodents run free and over take our cities. Oh wait they have, NY and LA in particular are infested! Why don’t u save them all from scavenging on the streets and ruining my evening strolls, take them home. Make them pets! Get off my back! Pun intended!
Underpaid minorities picking your vegetables, now that’s fine for you right? Please, fight for their rights. How about the poverty in the communities of brown people around the world. She had the nerve to say (and I quote) “get over it” talking of the issue of black people and slavery in this country verses cows being slaughtered. Is she kidding me? Lol yes she must be. Actually, she’s lucky most black people have real issues to worry about in the U.S and don’t give a crap what her delusional privileged opinions are. But she should try saying that again just for kicks n giggles on the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd in Harlem n see how well people “get over it” lol.
If u want to preach do it about something worthwhile don’t waste my time trying to save the dang chipmunk.
Find a worthwhile cause like the women being maimed in these Middle Eastern countries. Or female circumcision. Or women’s rights here in America, we still get paid less for doing the same jobs as men. Quite honestly if you hate the world so much go live in the forest where no one else has to hear you complain about the perfectly good food chain the good Lord created. Everyone has the right to an opinion, and that’s mine on that! xoxo
Dang. First off, let me just say that I am not a fur fan, never have been. But I can absolutely see and understand Kelis‘s point in this letter. While I do not wear fur, I do eat lots of meat and do wear leather … as I’m sure many of y’all do, too. Kelis is absolutely right that it is easy to level the finger of blame to people who wear fur but you would not hear the same criticism of people who require insulin to survive or towards folks who eat meat. Yes, PETA has a campaign against meat eating but they do not issue letters of condemnation to meat eaters, nor do they make public spectacles by embarrassing meat eaters like they do towards fur wearers. In the end, while I would never want to wear fur, I cannot besmirch anyone who does for the mere fact that I am meat-eating, leather-wearer. I gotta say, Kelis really handles herself well here … I can’t help but respect her for that.
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Anyone who thinks it’s ok to wear fur shoudl watch this disturbing video. WARNING it is very graphic, especially at 1:11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-kvZq4ARg4
Fur is not a necessity. There is no reason to wear fur, it looks ridiculous and its just pointless killing. All though I personally do not eat me, I think is a little more reasonable to eat meat because you need food to survive and unfortunately meat is the main source of food, you do not need fur at all the stay warm
haha..there’s a lot of PETA cronies here pretending not to be affiliated with PETA.. Get over it..it’s live and let live…mind ur own business…DO NOT SLAP UR BELIEFS IN OTHER PEOPLE”S FACES!
I don’t wear fur because I personally don’t like the way it looks. But I don’t go around throwing blood on people wearing furs.
People are getting tired and disgusted by the obnoxious behavior of PETA members. They act like uncivilized people, IMO.
woah i just read Ingrid Newkirk’s will and im hoping it was meant to be metaphorical or representative for some deep meaning.. cause it its literal thats one crazy lady…
I don’t respect PETA nor what they do to get their ‘ideas’ across, or how they treat people who don’t agree with them.
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However, I don’t even know who Kelis is, but this letter is childish and it seems as though she was just talking from her arse. IF she can use google to research someone, then she should use it to research the things she is going to talk about so she doesn’t seem like a fool.
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However, narrow minded people like her probably only see animals as ‘things’ and not as living beings. Which is why she doesn’t see a big deal out of wearing what she does. If one tries to educate someone such as her about this subject and to try and change her mind on it. It Would be the same as if they tried to move a brick wall just by pushing it with their bare hands. They won’t get far or make any progress. It’s sad, but hopefully she will educate herself on this manner, until then there is nothing anyone can do if she isn’t willing to change herself and how she thinks.
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Wait wait, I take back some from my last post after re-reading her letter. It seems she is misinformed on some things( and seems to think most animals are just ‘things’ and not beings who feel as humans do), but it wasn’t as childish as I first thought it was. she could have worded it better, spelt things out completely and such stuff. But she does hold some points, PETA shouldn’t try and force their opinions on others and instead try and educate them. Not force them or use childish actions to try and show their thoughts.
I don’t agree with everything she said. But she does hold some points so disregard my earlier comment. :) My fault for skimming over her letter and only paying attention to certain parts :)
[...] = 'TreyPeden';This morning, I came across this post on Pink is the New Blog about Kelis telling PeTA to shove off. While I find the rambling and bad grammar frustrating, I do have to give props to the lady for [...]
I think Kelis was very brave to write that letter. Some of you have said that even if there are more important problems in the world, each problem is important. Well of course, but the thing is: Fur is useful. It’s beautiful, it’s warm, it has a value. It’s not like other problems like dog fighting, that create no value at all! How can you compare them?? It’s like comparing eating meat to women being sold in India. One thing has a purpose, the other one is just plain immoral. And we’re not being as aggressive about these topics as with the whole “uhh fur wearers, BURN!” stupidity. PETA are absolute lunatics in the way they handle their affairs.
Good for you Kelis
Yes, good for you Kelis. We have ultimate confirmation that you are spoilt, ignorant and selfish.
Today the life’s worthless… cats, dogs, humans, chipmunk, cows … The life of any creature doesn’t have a meaning! Anyway…. that’s the future that we’re making…….
Great letter! Do some research on this not-so-humane organization. They kill about 97% of the animals they ‘rescue’. I’m sure those cats and dogs felt rescues as they were given the needle of death. Who are they kidding? As for fur, it is the ‘green’ alternative to wearing fabrics made of petroleum products. It is renewable. There is nothing that is as warm, or that lasts as long, as a fur coat. I just wish more celebrities could see Peta and their leader, Ingrid, for the cultish fanatics that they are. HSUS is the other Peta, in business suits. HSUS – working hard to remove all our animal ownership rights, and that includes everything from your goldfish to your dogs. Very deceitful organization…
PETA spun out of control a few years ago when they killed the animals they rescued and tossed them in the dumpster – and were busted for it. Kellis has the right to her opinion as do we all.
Kelis is a moron.
Just had to throw in my 2 cents on Lula’s comments about insulin: animal derived insulin was made well past the 80′s. I have been insulin dependent for 25 years and used porcine well into the 1990′s. Last I heard, it is still available in some European countries as some people have problems using synthetic insulin.
I think PETAs stance would be more credible if they followed their own advice. Just check out http://www.petakillsanimals.com and see what these hypocrites are all about.
Friends don’t let friends donate to PETA!
she doesn’t have all her facts straight BUT she does make a good point.
and up in the northern countries, like Russia, its so cold that fur is a must and they can’t get jackets from any other material cuz to them its expensive, unlike their furs which they have a lot.
therefore that’s when fur becomes a necessity.
I think its free will to wear fur or not.
and I don’t get y they would wanna use the other kind of fabric/material, since when its manufactured it harms more animals and different wildlife than just getting fur.
and you speak about animal rights? k where r the deers, antelopes and chinchillas rights when a lion or another wild animal eats them! u gonna send them a letter too?
I’m wearing fur right now. My cat is on my lap :)
My issue with PETA is the way they go about advocating their cause. Its alright to have a cause that you are passionate about but physically attacking people for that cause is not right no matter how you attempt to rationalize it. Frankly I find people in PETA and ALF (Animal Liberation Front) to be complete wack jobs and hypocrites. I honestly want to ask every member of PETA and ALF if they have ever had to take medication for anything or use skin care, make up, etc. because I can guarantee that all of those especially medications had to be tested on animals at some point. Because in addition to attacking fur wearers these people have also attacked scientists as well and to be honest until they are willing to have these compounds tested on them instead of animals that they should shut up because I assure you more animals are used for experiments than for fur.
I see someone posted a link to this blog on a PETA website. Now we have all the bleeding heart rat lovers over here. Kelis can wear whatever she wants. It’s none of PETA’s business. Boy, I guess those Native Americans were just horrible animal abusers. Everything they wore was an animal product. These days, we have horribly spoiled young adults being deluded by idiot groups like PETA, who then try to petulantly force their point of view on everyone else. If you don’t like fur, don’t wear it. However, it’s not your decision whether someone else has the right to. What I find particularly ironic is that a good many of these petulant children instead wear artificial fibers which are made through the use of chemicals that polute our Earth.