Tag: Matt Prescott

Matt Prescott and Lara Sanders Pull Off Marriage Proposal Stunt

Animal rights activists Matt Prescott and Lara Sanders pulled off a marriage proposal stunt at an August 5 New York Yankees-Toronto Blue Jays game at Rogers Center in Toronto.

Prescott, who works for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, paid $250 to reserve a marriage proposal to be broadcast on the stadium’s Jumbotron. When the Jumbotron camera focused on the pair, Prescott held up a sign saying,

John Bitove and KFC Cripple Chickens

Bitove is the owner of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and KFC Canada.

Well, this is certainly an improvement on Prescott’s last big idea. He’s the idiot at PETA who came up with the “Holocaust On Your Plate” campaign.

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Man proves he’s not chicken. Craig Smith, Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh), August 9, 2005.

Lovebirds Engage KFC During Yankees-Blue Jays Game. Press Release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, August 2005.

Matt Prescott Keeps On Lying about Holocaust On Your Plate

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is still touring the world with its “Holocaust On Your Plate” display. In September, the display started making its way through Canada.

In Montreal, Matt Prescott set up the show across the street from a Burger King, but he apparently was taken aback by complaints that the campaign says that meat eaters are the moral equivalent of Nazis. So he did what most PETA representatives do when confronted with embarrassing arguments — lie. Prescott told The Montreal Gazette,

[PETA is] not saying meat-eaters are the equivalent of Nazis. We’re saying anybody who eats meat is guilty of holding the same mindset that allowed the Holocaust to happen. We can take a stand against that ever time we sit down to eat by adopting a vegetarian diet.

PETA is not saying meat-eaters are Nazis? Ah, that explains why PETA features a web-ad on its site with pictures of concentration camp victims on one end and pictures of slaughtered pigs on the other, and in between text saying, “In relation to [animals] all people are Nazis.” Because, of course, PETA is not saying that meat-eaters are equivalent to Nazis.

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Philllips Square exhibit a shocker. Andy Riga, The Montreal Gazette, September 9, 2004.

Is the Animal Rights Movement Largely Jewish?

This is a bit dated, but it has been fascinating to watch People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Matt Prescott offer up one outrageous comment after another while trying to explain and justify PETA’s “Holocaust on Your Plate.”

In February, for example, Jewish newspaper Forward interviewed Prescott and apparently the PETA activist felt he had to play up the Jewish presence in formulating both this campaign and in the animal rights movement in general. So, according to Prescott,

The animal rights movement is largely comprised by Jews . . . I’d say a quarter of the animal rights movement [is Jewish].

A quarter of animal rights activists are Jewish? And 25 percent is equivalent to “largely comprised” of?

Prescott goes on to maintain that the Holocaust itself is taboo,

Some people are definitely shocked. I think it’s because the Holocaust is so taboo, seeing massive photos of death [is] offensive to people; but the Holocaust happened because people turned a blind eye to cruelty.

Where does PETA find these people?

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Animal rights group invokes Holocaust. Max Gross, Forward, February 28, 2003.

Utah TV Stations Refuse PETA Holocaust Ads

Four Salt Lake City, Utah, television stations rejected advertisements placed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that compare animal slaughter to the Holocaust.

The ad features animals being transported to slaughter inside a truck and, according to The Salt Lake Tribune,

A voice in the PETA ad says: “They came for us at night. Beat us. We cried out in the darkness. With no food or water, and barely air to breathe.”

PETA’s Matt Prescott said he was disappointed that the television states rejected the ads, telling The Salt Lake Tribune, “I think it’s a shame, because people need to understand where their food comes from.”

Right, because tens of millions of Americans don’t realize that animals are raised on farms and then slaughtered before showing up in the supermarkets.

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Utah TV stations reject PETA ad. Rhina Guidos, The Salt Lake Tribune, August 24, 2003.

Another Problem with the Holocaust On Your Plate Campaign

One of the more frustrating things about the media is when reporters paraphrase comments where a verbatim quote should really have been used to avoid misunderstanding or misquoting a speaker. With that caveat, the Minneapolis Star Tribune offered this bizarre complaint about People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ “Holocaust On Your Plate” campaign,

Brian Blitz, a University of Minnesota-Duluth student, said the graphic nature of the exhibit was a mistake because [sic] made it too easy for people to ignore the conditions of the animals and focus on the indignity of Holocaust victims.

Yeah, we certainly wouldn’t want people shedding any tears over one of the worst acts of genocide in human history at the expense of the chickens, now would we?

Interestingly, the Tribune reported that PETA activist Matthew Prescott was disappointed that only about 30 people showed up for the display, but several of them had the right idea,

Several other people came to the exhibit with hamburgers and chicken strips, and several lively discussions broke out between them and the supporters of the exhibit.

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Visitors divided over PETA’s message. Allen Powell II, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), July 30, 2003.

PETA Activists Arrested Outside Vogue Offices

The Portsmouth Herald reports that two activists were arrested at that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protest outside the offices of Vogue magazine where the activists poured fake blood on the edifice of the building.

Matt Prescott, 21, and Alex Hodgkins, 19, were charged on May 27 with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief for splattering the fake blood on the building housing Vogue’s offices.

Hodgkins told the Portsmouth Herald,

My being inconvenienced for a few hours is nothing compared to the misery and suffering endured by animals killed for their fur.

Source:

Fur protesters arrested outside Vogue offices. Susan Nolan, Portsmouth Herald, June 15, 2003.