PETA made the mistake of going after TMZ for criticizing punk rocker Morrissey (a PETA spokesman) after he chowed down at the STK steakhouse in West Hollywood.
Apparently PETA is fine with steakhouses (!?), according to the powers that be:
PETA big cheese Ingrid Newkirk tells TMZ she’s got no beef with steakhouses — she’s been to the STK in New York herself.
We’re wondering if it’s ok for Pam Anderson to shop for spandex at Fred the Furrier…
UPDATE: Michael McGraw from PETA just called us to say he was upset by our story, adding, “PETA is fine with vegetarians dining at steakhouses. It’s just like shopping at stores like Whole Foods that also sell meat, because it’s good to show proprietors they can make money by selling veggie options.”
But then it turns out that Morrissey didn’t actually eat at STK that night. He went next door, to the Belmont, and his rep says as a vegetarian Morrissey refuses to eat at steakhouses.
Neat trick, TMZ. You just got PETA to give us all their blessing to eat at Ruth’s Chris, Outback, and Sizzler, just to save face with one of the spokesmorons in their stable (and a lesser one at that). Nice going!


“It’s just like shopping at stores like Whole Foods that also sell meat, because it’s good to show proprietors they can make money by selling veggie options.”
In 2000, 2.5% of Americans thats about 7,500,000 people, identified themselves as people that don’t eat meat, poultry, or fish. From a business standpoint there is no money to be made from what is statistically, the number zero. That’s right veggies. You don’t count.
Ingrid might know how to run a terrorist organization, but she isn’t a brilliant business person.
For every animal Morrissey doesn’t eat, I’m going to eat three.
Maddox FTW.
Neat trick, TMZ. You just got PETA to give us all their blessing to eat at Ruth’s Chris, Outback, and Sizzler, just to save face with one of the spokesmorons in their stable (and a lesser one at that). Nice going!
Um yeah, PETA gave you the blessing to eat at any of these places as long as you get the vegetarian option. Duh.
I would frankly be surprised if PETA were to say anything else. They’ve never said that you should only shop at vegetarian stores and eat at vegetarian restaurants. That would be really dumb.
Nice try, though.
Um, I wonder why vegans get stereotyped as condescending snots? Duh!
You are so retarded! So vegetarians aren’t allowed to eat at places that sell beef, not sure if you get out much but every restaurant in the world offers dishes without meat for people who don’t eat it even steakhouses.
This just in: Anemia affects punctuation and critical thinking skills.
Morrissey is a punk rocker? Your research skills are fabulous. He is a vegetarian who will not eat at a steakhouse and yet he is still a “spokemoron” for PETA’s actions? This is another time I have to civilly ask why you’re being more pitbull than enlightener.
I suppose “post-punk rocker” would be more accurate, Beth. Forgive me for relying on Wikipedia, I was in diapers during the Smiths’ heyday.
And you’re right that Morrissey is clean in this situation; PETA is the only one acting hypocritically. They have plenty of other washed-up stars who deserve the spokesmoron label before he does.
It’s too bad they seem determined to alienate him, because he really is the perfect spokesman for their cause. “Cut out all animal products, and you too can be as happy and fun to be around as this man.”
Morrissey is thinking to himself “please, please, please let me get what I want.”