Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for the Best Actor at the 92nd annual Awards. Leonardo DiCaprio and Antonio Banderas were among his fellow nominees. He gave a moving and accurate acceptance speech in which he highlighted the treatment of dairy cows in particular. He said: “We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakeable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal”.



His Speech has angered many, and he has received a huge backlash from dairy advocates from all corners. An opinion piece in the New York Post branded him ‘a disgrace‘ and described him as ‘rambling like a street bum’.

Politicians are angered

Congressman Fred Keller took to Facebook to air his disgust sharing a press release from a government website. In response to the speech the Congressman for Pennsylvania said:

“Joaquin Phoenix winning Best Actor for playing the Joker fits him to a T because his comments would have been laughable were they not so offensive. Phoenix’s rambling remarks about America’s dairy industry prove how out-of-touch he is with the hard-working Americans who grow our food and create healthy communities”

The Congressman has received his own backlash from his post on Facebook. With over 750 comments most of which are in support of Joaquin Phoenix’s speech. The comment section makes a good read with only a few misguided people advocating for the dairy industry.

Tammy Whitmore Coleman said: ”Congressman just because you get kick backs from the dairy and meat industry doesn’t mean it’s healthy, cows milk is for cows not humans.”

Lizzer Beth said: ”You’re out of touch with where your food and dairy actually comes from. People need to evolve away from being reliant on animal exploitation. It’s totally unnecessary in this day and age. Good on Joaquin for going against the grain and having real morals.”

Towards the end of the speech Joaquin Phoenix also mentioned a lyric written by his brother River Phoenix. ”Run to the rescue with love and peace will follow”.

Visit our home page for more Vegan News