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Animal-rights organization, PETA, has received backlash online over its ‘cruel’ comment to fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Following the announcement that Chanel’s artistic director has passed away, PETA tweeted: “Karl Lagerfeld has gone, and his passing marks the end of an era when fur and exotic skins were seen as covetable. PETA sends condolences to our old nemesis’s loved ones.”
‘It’s an industry’
In a 2015 interview with The New York Times, Lagerfeld defended the fur industry, stating: “It’s very easy to say no fur, no fur, no fur, but it’s an industry. Who will pay for all the unemployment of the people if you suppress the industry of the fur? The hunters in the north for the sable, they have no other job, there is nothing else to do.
“The problem with fur for me, as long as people eat meat and wear leather, I don’t get the message.”
However, last year the fashion house Chanel announced it would no longer use exotic animal skins or fur in its collections – including crocodile, lizard, snake and stingray skins.
‘Attention-seeking solecisms’
The tweet caused controversy on social media, with one person tweeting: “PETA is increasingly a masterclass in how not to do PR. Contrary to their ostensible purpose, they make the (otherwise admirable) case for the ethical treatment of animals appear weaker by associating it with their own bizarre, attention-seeking solecisms.”
Whilst another person tweeted: “A man passed away. A man who despised curvy women, sweatpants, tattoos, made fun of Coco Chanel, fought Peta & defended fur businesses. Karl Lagerfeld. Now let me put on my sweats, binge some baby animal videos and upload a photo of a stranger saying R.I.P? Thx but I’ll pass.”
