Photo by Heather Kaplan
In the name of animal rights, Morrissey once instructed New York’s Madison Square Garden to prohibit the sale of any meat-based products during his show. Riot Fest Chicago, where the singer performed over the summer, fell in line as well, halting the serving and cooking of meat for the entirety of his set. Now, as the Detroit Metro Times points out, Moz is hoping he can get another big name to back his activist ways: General Motors.
Just a day before he’s set to play at Detroit’s Royal Oak Music Theatre, The Smiths frontman has addressed a letter to the carmaker’s CEO asking that GM offer their customers the option of having vegan leather interiors. Specifically, the English musician wants the manufacturer’s Bolt and Volt models — which already are promoted as eco-friendly — to feature the vegan materials.
Perhaps to make his request seem doubly serious, Morrissey reminds the CEO that PETA is currently investigating the Detroit company for its possible connections to cattle ranches, where “animals are branded on the face, electro-shocked, and beaten before they’re slaughtered and used to make leather interiors for car companies, including yours.”
Read the full letter below.
Mary T Barra
Chair and CEO
General Motors Company
21 November 2016
Dear Ms Barra,
As I head to Detroit to play the Royal Oak Music Theatre, I’m writing to ask GM to make Chevy’s Volt and Bolt more eco-friendly by giving buyers the option to choose vegan leather interiors – including steering wheels and gear shifts. GM is named in PETA’s brand-new investigation of cattle ranches, on which animals are branded on the face, electro-shocked, and beaten before they’re slaughtered and used to make leather interiors for car companies, including yours.
More and more people are opting for vegan leather for the sake of both cows and the environment. A staggering 51 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. Animal skins also have to be treated with a toxic soup of chemicals in order to keep them from decomposing, and runoff from leather tanneries poisons vital waterways.
Given that the Volt and Bolt are being marketed to eco-conscious buyers, entirely vegan options would only broaden their appeal. I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
