Animal rights group PETA loves comedian Tiffany Haddish, but its members still want her to find a protest strategy that doesn’t require fur.
The entertainer, who has appeared in films including “Girls Trip” and “Keanu,” annoyed activists and animal lovers alike when she posted a recent Instagram video vowing that fur garments would remain part of her wardrobe until police “stop killing black people.”
Wearing a fur vest given to her by a fan after a show at the Comedy Store in West Hollywood, Calif., Haddish said in the clip she’s protesting deaths of minorities in policy custody.
“When the police stop killing black people, I’ll stop wearing fur,” Haddish said in her video, replayed more than 1.1 million times so far. “It’s my new protest. Sorry, PETA, don’t be mad at me, be mad at the police.”
PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, doesn’t appear to be mad, but it does offer some constructive criticism. “As an animal rights organizations, we advocate for, and believe in, kindness towards all, including animals,” the organization said in a statement. “We hope that you choose to protest in a different way that doesn’t harm any humans or any animals, but is kind to all.”
Law enforcement-linked deaths of minorities garnered national scrutiny after incidents including the shooting death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015, which prompted riots.
In 2018, an off-duty Dallas officer fatally shot 26-year-old accountant Botham Shem Jean when she mistook his apartment for her own, and 22-year-old Stephon Clark was shot dead in his grandmother’s backyard by police investigating property damage in Sacramento, according to the New York Times. An officer was fired in six of 15 prominent cases over a three-year period but only convicted at trial in three, the news organization said.
“Every single police shooting case is different,” one Instagram user said in response to Haddish. “I would not want to be one of the guys to run into a dark room looking for a known killer. The police do it every day!”
[Opinion: LA should scrap its ban on fur]
