Jennifer Lawrence: 'Screw PETA!'
Jennifer Lawrence's comments about PETA, the animal rights organization, in reference to the killing of squirrels for a movie has her critics upset. The animal rights activists responded to Lawrence's lighthearted comment, suggesting the actress was too "young" to understand the issue.
Jennifer Lawrence, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, discussed the skinning of squirrels for her 2010 movie "Winter's Bone." When asked if the scene was real or faked, the easygoing actress responded frivolously, never one to be politically correct.
"I should say it wasn't real, for PETA- but screw PETA," she joked.
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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, self-proclaimed largest animal advocacy organization in the world, made it a point to criticize Lawrence for her attitude.
"She's young and the plight of animals somehow hasn't yet touched her heart," PETA president Ingrid Newkirk stated Tuesday.
"As Henry David Thoreau said, 'The squirrel you kill in jest, dies in earnest.' When people kill animals, it is the animals who are 'screwed,' not PETA, and one day I hope she will try to make up for any pain she might cause any animal who did nothing but try to eke out a humble existence in nature," she added.
Lawrence, who earned an Oscar nomination for the graphic film depicting the fictionalized horrors of methamphetamine labs, certainly did not enjoy the experience, however. The Louisville, Kentucky-born actress, aged 19 at the time, told E! News that the experience brought her to tears.
"[A friend of my brother's] cut it open and then I went and cried in the house and let him finish," said the normally bubbly actress. He was attempting to demonstrate the proper way to perform the gruesome task.
Although Newkirk also admitted that Lawrence's lighthearted comment was "a throw-away remark" she invited her to "[join] the ranks of other young celebrities like Natalie Portman, Lea Michele, and Kellan Lutz who are using their influence to help animals."
