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Joaquin Phoenix Wants Everyone To Go Vegan And End ‘Speciesisim’

Joaquin Phoenix has urged everyone to become a vegan as part of PETA's new campaign to 'end speciesism'.
Credit: @joaquinlphoenix/Instagram & Unsplash

Joaquin Phoenix has urged everyone to become a vegan as part of PETA’s new campaign to ‘end speciesism’.

The Hollywood actor has been vegan himself since he was just three years old after witnessing ‘fish being killed in a really violent and aggressive way’.

The Joker star, who previously called out the process of animals being killed for meat ‘absurd and barbaic,’ has thrown his support behind the campaign called ‘We Are All Animals’.

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Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix has previously said being vegan is ‘one of the most important parts of his life’. Credit: Joaquin Phoenix

He said: “When we look at the world through another animal’s eyes, we see that inside we’re all the same and that we all deserve to live free from suffering.”

PETA defines ‘speciesism’ as ‘an oppressive belief that promotes the idea that all other animal species are inferior to humans’. 

The animal rights activists compare it to ‘sexism, racism, and other forms of discrimination’. 

Phoenix has previously worked alongside them, supporting campaigns against wool and the killing of fish. 

He told Brut that being vegan is an ‘obvious’ decision to avoid causing ‘pain or suffering,’ on other creatures. 

The 46-year-old said: “I’ve been vegan since I was three years old and at that age, me and my siblings witnessed fish being killed in a really violent and aggressive way.

“It was just absolutely obvious that that was something we didn’t want to participate in and support. To me, it just seems obvious.

“I don’t want to cause pain to another living, empathetic creature. I don’t want to take its babies away from it, I don’t want to force it to be indoors and fattened up just to be slaughtered.

“It’s absurd and barbaric and I just don’t understand how you could witness that and not be affected by it.”

He went on to say his veganism was ‘one of the most important’ things in his life.

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Written by Aimee Walker

Aimee is a senior content editor at IGV who specialises in finding the best original stories, trending topics and entertainment news. She graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in Media and Communications.