Chrissie Hynde

Different people promote vegetarianism in different ways. Some are smooth and silky about it, conciliatory to meat eaters, trying their hardest not to ruffle feathers. Chrissie Hynde lead singer of The Pretenders, on the other hand, is the sand paper of the veggie movement, the carborundum stone, the nutmeg grater. Eat meat or defend the practice and you’re likely to get your skin stripped off in a rhetorical blast of outrage, spiked with pithy expletives.

The ultimate rock chick (although at 52, ‘chick’ is probably pushing it somewhat) she’s been at the top of her profession for more than 20 years, her extraordinary, immediately-identifiable voice giving her and her band, the Pretenders, hit after hit. But what other rock and roller would finish off a concert by having a go at their audience? “Thank you to all you veggies out there. The meat eaters? You can just xxxx off!”
Chrissie was filmed for Viva!’s anti-factory farming film, Not In My Name. She told us:

When I was about 17, I heard the word vegetarian. I didn’t know any, not in Ohio but it occurred to me that if you can live without killing animals then what on earth had I been doing for the last 17 years? As I became aware of farming - the forcible control of animals, the cages, tethers, mass transport - I thought of Nazi Germany and the holocaust where the images were akin to factory farming .

The scale of abuse in Britain’s farms is a national disgrace. Please support Viva!’s campaigns to end the torture.