In a classic example of its hypocrisy, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals whined to anyone who would listen in March that Jennifer Lopez had bullied Billboard into rejecting a PETA ad attacking the fur-loving actor/singer/tabloid item.
The ad featured a picture of a skinned animal accompanied by an open letter attacking Lopez for her continued wearing and use of fur in her clothing line. The letter asked for a meeting between Lopez and PETA representatives.
On March 28, however, Billboard told PETA it was cancelling the $5,000 ad, and PETA’s Lisa Lange accused Billboard of caving to pressure from Loepz’s record label, Epic.
Lopez’s publicist, Nanci Ryder, told the San Francisco Chronicle,
I’m doing my job which is protecting my client. I don’t understand why PETA wants to meet with Jennifer.
In my opinion, there would be nothing worse than a meeting, unless in the meting we could commit to not wearing fur and using fur in fashion. Unless we could do that, I didn’t quite understand where the meeting would go.
And Lopez so far is standing her ground.
Its more than a little odd to see a group that encourages animal rights terrorism and goes so far as to celebrate the murder of those with whom they disagree to turn around and complain that it was wrong for Billboard to field a concerned call from Lopez’s publicist.
Apparently in PETA’s world, only they are allowed to speak and their targets must just sit there and take the punishment from the animal rights nut cases. Good for Lopez for fighting back.
Source:
Did J. Lo force Billboard to pull PETA ad? San Francisco Chronicle, March 29, 2005.