The Joker Takes on Climate Change
Celebrated actor Joaquin Phoenix launched Oscar Weekend by marching alongside Jane Fonda for climate change awareness. Fonda hosted her climate demonstration Fire Drill Fridays in Los Angeles for the first time to gather Hollywood’s biggest stars to make noise about the Green New Deal in the wake of the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony. The Joker is taking on climate change.
Thank you to everyone who joined us this week in Los Angeles.#FireDrillFriday 🔥 is just getting started. Text JANE to 877-877 to take action with us!#LastChanceAlliance #OurLastChance #NoDrillingWhereWereLiving @Janefonda @greenpeaceusa https://t.co/cqqDzh8cHX
— Fire Drill Fridays (@FireDrillFriday) February 9, 2020
The week following his Golden Globe win in January, Phoenix was among the 147 demonstrators arrested in Washington D.C. after marching in Fonda’s protest. Phoenix made an impassioned speech at the protest condemning the meat and dairy industry as the third leading cause of the climate crisis.
A vegan since childhood, Joaquin Phoenix has been a lifelong advocate of animal rights and environmental protection. He is considered the driving force behind this year’s Golden Globes ceremony’s first all-vegan menu. Phoenix has also been sporting the same tuxedo to all of his awards shows this season, as a part of his personal initiative to reduce waste.
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This Sunday, Joaquin Phoenix was awarded the Oscar for the Best Actor for his poignant portrayal of a tormented comedian’s descent into evil in Todd Phillips’s “Joker.” During his acceptance speech, Phoenix took the opportunity to spotlight some global injustices including gender inequality, racism, queer rights, indigenous rights, and animal rights. He went on to deliver a powerful epic about the state of factory farming and its exploitation of livestock.
We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby. Even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. And then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.
— Joaquin Phoenix
“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby. Even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. And then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal,” he cried.
Concluding his inspiring speech denouncing factory dairy farming, Phoenix tearfully quoted his late brother River Phoenix, “When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric, he said: run to the rescue with love and peace will follow. Thank you.”
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Featured Photo: A painting of Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker — Featured Photo Credit: Hersson Piratoba
