Aussie Band Face Extreme Backlash From Fans Over Controversial PETA Ad

Adelaide metalcore outfit I Killed The Prom Queen have responded to severe backlash from the Australian farming community, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, and even their own fans following guitarist Jona Weinhofen’s involvement in a recent PETA campaign.

Last week, the animal rights group launched a new campaign calling for an end to sheep shearing. PETA shared an image of Weinhofen holding an apparently bloodied sheep, which was later revealed to be a prop. Accompanying the image was the slogan, “Here’s the rest of your wool coat.”

PETA, which stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, urged their Facebook followers to share the image and what they referred to as “the heartbreaking truth” that “this is what most sheep used for wool look like after ‘shearing.'”

However, Weinhofen’s fans weren’t sold. It didn’t take long before the band was being inundated by angry messages from their own fans criticising what they argued was an ill-informed and blatantly dishonest campaign.

Even Barnaby Joyce weighed in on the campaign. As the ABC reports, Mr Joyce called the campaign “a load of rubbish” and said he was moved to speak after speaking with shearers who “get so sick of people lying about their industry, and lying about them”.

“If we go to Mr Weinhofen, living in vegan splendour at the moment in California, and take his form of life to its logical extent, well they don’t believe in the wool industry so everyone at this press conference can take off everything that’s made of wool,” Mr Joyce told media at Parliament House in Canberra.

Mr Joyce argued that groups like PETA and those that support them present an unrealistic and unfeasible view of the world. “I don’t think that’s the idea of a successful economy,” the Agriculture Minister told the press.

“This idea that the whole industry is just a morass of brutality to animals is a lie,” he added. “These shearers who were helping me lamb mark yesterday… they’re doing what most people would acknowledge around the world as doing one of the hardest physical jobs you can do, in shearing sheep.”

“So I thought, I’ll call a press conference and say it’s a load of rubbish and make sure that people understand our position.” Weinhofen took to Twitter to respond, saying he wasn’t afraid of insulting “anyone in ANY industry exploiting animals, cruel or otherwise”.

Meanwhile, the band’s social media channels continued to be flooded with criticism from fans, with many saying that they had “lost respect” for the group and would no longer listen to their music. “Deleted from iPod,” wrote one former fan.

Many shared photos of healthy-looking shorn sheep, as others argued that shearing was a necessity to prevent sheep from becoming flyblown and because domesticated sheep are unable to shed their wool naturally, posing many potential risks to the animals.

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The band has now responded to the criticism, assuring fans that they are not “anti-farmer” but simply dedicated to veganism and vegetarianism, lifestyles to which several members of the group are actively committed.

“We know farmers are hard working and often dealing with ongoing financial and emotional hardships,” they write. “But that doesn’t mean everyone should turn a blind eye to the cruel practices the animals have to cope with during their existence in the livestock industry.”

“Of course this isn’t a product of farmers being vindictive or bad people at all, but merely because the animals involved are considered possessions to turn a profit, with maximum efficiency and minimal-to-no care for the physical or psychological well-being of the creatures, outside of those with an economic impact.”

The band acknowledged that the wool industry is “the small end of the cruelty inherent in much of the livestock industry”, but criticised practices such as mulesing, where skin from a sheep’s buttocks is removed to prevent flystrike.

However, fans remain unswayed. The statement has been met with further criticism from fans, with many appealing to Weinhofen to cease his support of PETA’s campaign. Readers can check out I Killed The Prom Queen’s full statement below.

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