Joaquin Phoenix Comforts Doomed Pigs after Award!
There are moments in our culture when a shift occurs and it is palpable. Sunday night, January 19th, right after the SAG awards, was one of those moments. Joaquin Phoenix had just won the coveted award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his work in Joker. Instead of heading to a party, the actor raced over to a slaughterhouse near downtown LA to comfort pigs about to be slaughtered, as part of a vigil conducted by Los Angeles Animal Save. JaneUnChained’s interview with Joaquin Phoenix, conducted by contributor Renee Marinkovich, hit a nerve and immediately got picked up by news organizations around the world. The JaneUnChained interview was published in People Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, TMZ, Yahoo News, Vanity Fair, Fox News, Men’s Health, ET Canada, Live Kindly, One Green Planet, NBC Los Angeles, The Daily Mail, The NY Daily News, Complex and other publications. The interview was also played and discussed during a long segment on ET Canada’s TV broadcast.
Jane UnChained contributor Renée Marinkovich asked great questions during the interview with Golden Globes/ Critics’ Choice Awards/ Screen Actors Guild Awards’ Best Actor Award winner Joaquin Phoenix, star of the Warner Bros. Entertainment hit film “The Joker.” Joaquin regularly joins the group of animal/climate activists comforting truckloads of innocent, young, frightened pigs about to be killed so their bodies can be turned into bacon, ham and other unnecessary, unhealthful, and environmentally destructive products. This Los Angeles Animal Save pig vigil is organized by Amy Jean Davis. It is the largest group in The Animal Save Movement which is comprised of over 700 vigil groups worldwide! For more than three years they have been holding these life-changing vigils outside of this LA area slaughterhouse, giving water to young pigs who are delivered to their deaths on perforated trucks. Night after night, the trucks keep rolling up filled with hundreds of baby pigs inside. Across the street from the slaughterhouse, more trucks wait their turn to enter in an overflow parking lot. “We see you,” say the dedicated activists. Many more people will now “see” these pigs thanks to this incredible actor’s commitment to compassion! Any media outlet can use this footage without seeking extra permission. Please credit Jane UnChained News Network.
Joaquin Phoenix lays out the crisis to JaneUnChained in this interview. Joaquin explains that he felt that he had to be there to shed light on an industry that victimizes so many animals and people. It’s not only about non-human animals being killed in these places. He explains that the issue extends to the people who work in or live around slaughterhouses, people who are usually of lower socioeconomic status. They are victims as well. From the often-times hazardous working conditions in slaughterhouses to the runoff from the washing away of animal parts and residue into neighborhoods, people suffer too. He pleads with people to go plant-based saying, “what is it really going to do for your life?” The sacrifice a person makes by not eating animal products is nothing compared to the sacrifice the animal makes to be consumed. Anyway, going plant-based is not even a sacrifice! It’s a delicious, healthful lifestyle. Joaquin said he had to be out there to stand along with the activists who come “week after week” to greet these unfortunate beings. It’s not often someone is willing to bypass the glamor of Hollywood after-parties to show mercy to the least fortunate outside of a slaughterhouse instead. We applaud Joaquin for shedding light on the sad reality of the meat and dairy industry!
On this night, activists came out to give the pigs on the slaughterhouse trucks comfort and water before they are sent into the slaughterhouse not to be seen alive or whole again. Families like Harisa, her husband Joey, and their lovely daughter Paisley were in attendance alongside other compassionate people who want to make the world a better place! Damien, who came with Joaquin, shared his personal experience of a pig being smarter than the dogs they live with. He certainly made the connection between the pig he knows personally and the pigs on these trucks. Once people know the truth, they have the ability to help others become aware of how incredibly worthy of life all creatures are. This is exactly what actor Joaquin Phoenix is doing: using his fame to bring awareness to the public! Thank you to all the activists who have made so many sacrifices to help the world really see the victims behind animal agriculture’s neatly packaged body parts on grocery store shelves.
Attend a weekly vigil with Los Angeles Animal Save on Sundays and with Animal Alliance Network on Wednesdays.
Connect with your local Animal Save Movement chapter to attend a vigil and get involved.