Ellen DeGeneres Under Fire For Launching Leather Shoe Line

Like us on Facebook:

The current article you are reading does not reflect the views of the current editors and contributors of the new Ecorazzi

Vegan Ellen DeGeneres recently launched a footwear line that will feature leather shoes, and, naturally, animal lovers are upset.

The shoe line, called “ED by Ellen,” will feature leather boots and is manufactured in Brazil by the Camuto Group, the same billion-dollar leather company that’s behind Nine West. The shoes, which will sell for $250 and up, will be available at Bergdorf Goodman in NYC as well as in other stores throughout the country and internationally in the spring.

DeGeneres is a well-known vegan and animal rights activist, so it’s not surprising that animal advocates are accusing the comedian of hypocrisy. The Global Conservation Group (GCG) released a letter yesterday, citing their disappointment. The letter states, in part, how animals in the leather industry are “treated much worse” than those in the farm industry. “It’s not uncommon for animals used for leather to be skinned alive while fully conscious,” it reads. The group has even posted a petition entitled: “Dear Ellen, cut out leather from your new shoe line.”

Jane Velez-Mitchell took to Facebook and joined GCG to call out the talk show host. “Ellen, you still have time to change your mind. You had to have known – with your very public statement of veganism – that you would be called out for jumping to the dark side. You still have time to redeem yourself. FIX IT!”

DeGeneres has since removed a photo from her Facebook page of her and wife, Portia DeRossi, posing with fur-lovers, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West at her shoe line’s NYC launch party.

“She must have been getting blow-back from her friends with taste over her association with a fur-hag and her egotist husband,” a comedy writer who worked with DeGeneres told the Dodo. “She’s too star-struck to give up that picture without a really good reason.”

Adding to the controversy are the missing leather boots in the ED by Ellen line that are missing from the star’s website, but which appear on Bergdorf’s. The move appears to be a strategic one from DeGeneres’ camp so as to not alienate her vegan fans. But that tactic doesn’t seem to be working for some.

“It’s obviously all about the money for her. She doesn’t give a damn about the animals,” said Sarah Winnick, an Ellen fan and animal advocate, to the Dodo. “And, she is demeaning workers here in America by sending jobs overseas. She could have easily manufactured a vegan shoe line right here in Los Angeles.”

PETA, which named the star one of its people of the year in 2010, said on Twitter that it has yet to make a statement regarding the matter.

However, it doesn’t look like the comedian will change her mind anytime soon. It was just announced that DeGeneres is also launching a menswear line with leather lover West.

It really is an unfortunate turn of events for the likeable talk show host. In 2012, the star, while describing her vegan journey, said, “I’ve always called myself an animal lover. And yet I ate them…I would be driving past these cows on pastures, and think ‘What a lovely life that is,’ and I’d go and order a steak. It takes a click, just one light bulb, and you’re like ‘I can’t do that anymore.'”

We hope one light bulb will eventually go on for her when it comes to leather.

Via The Dodo

Photo: Shutterstock