Jennifer Lawrence: “Screw PETA”

By Alexandra Heilbron on April 12, 2012 | 19 Comments


The Hunger Games superstar Jennifer Lawrence has never been afraid to speak her mind, and usually means well, but this time she’s captured the attention of PETA, not to be confused with Peeta from The Hunger Games. The 21-year-old actress was recently asked about the scene in her earlier movie, Winter’s Bone, where she was seen skinning a squirrel. Lawrence said, “I should say it wasn’t real, for PETA,” but she laughed and added, “But screw PETA.” PETA president Ingrid Newkirk graciously responded, “We are told that this squirrel was hit by a car, but when people kill animals, it is the animals who are ‘screwed,’ not PETA.” Newkirk, understanding Lawrence’s newfound fame and age, added, “She’s young and the plight of animals somehow hasn’t yet touched her heart. As Henry David Thoreau said, ‘The squirrel you kill in jest, dies in earnest.'” However, in a 2010 interview with E!, Lawrence confessed she cried and ran into the house when her brother’s friend demonstrated the process in order for her to prepare for the movie. In a statement, PETA said, “That was just a throw-away remark and we have our bet on Jennifer ending up joining the ranks of other young celebrities like Natalie Portman, Lea Michele, and Kellan Lutz, who are using their influence to help animals.” ~Renita Naraine



Comments & Discussion

  1. BP • April 12, 2012 @ 10:14 AM

    doesn’t PETA have anything better to do than bitch about a dead rodent?

  2. jack and jill • April 12, 2012 @ 10:15 AM

    She never fails to entertain.

  3. andrya • April 12, 2012 @ 10:15 AM

    Ingrid Newkirk is a very smart lady. Just in her response to this article shows her maturity and that she has big heart. Can we have our political system learn from this sort of response.

  4. andrya • April 12, 2012 @ 10:16 AM

    Ingrid Newkirk is a very smart lady. Just in her response to this article shows her maturity and that she has big heart. Can we have our political system learn from this sort of response.
    Oh and that it’s clear by the ads headline that the media are probably taking a lose comment out of proportion; and i am a huge animal rights person myself.

  5. Candy • April 12, 2012 @ 10:45 AM

    People eat squirrels and other animals all over the world, from the most industrial nations to the most basic tribes. Nature made them to eat and there is nothing wrong with depicting it in life, a book, show or movie. Torturing animals for pleasure or because it is easier in the slaughter process is wrong. Humane killing only, please – for ingestion, not sport only. Thank you.

  6. Jack Watt • April 12, 2012 @ 11:16 AM

    I don’t know why people have a problem with People Eating Tasty Animals. They’re a great group and beneficial to our health and economy.

  7. whatever • April 12, 2012 @ 12:50 PM

    Screw PETA.

  8. Lloyd • April 12, 2012 @ 2:08 PM

    I think I just fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence even more!

  9. nadine • April 12, 2012 @ 7:28 PM

    i love peta they look after the animals who have no voice. i hope Jennifer steps up and becomes a spokesperson after this pr debacle.

  10. mitch • April 12, 2012 @ 10:40 PM

    As Homer Simpson would say…”MMMMMM….squirrel.” Pass the bbq sauce.

  11. Olive • April 13, 2012 @ 12:04 AM

    The journalist probably just messed the quote up so she looks like the bad guy. To me she was just talking about how PETA wouldnt like her talking about skinning that squirrel, and she said screw them since she was going to talk about it anyways. Whatever I still love her.

  12. wolfkin • April 13, 2012 @ 8:11 AM

    I’ll concede that PETA president Ingrid Newkirk is actually being smart in this case, but that doesn’t magically erase all the insane things PETA does.

  13. jon doe • April 13, 2012 @ 9:14 AM

    I’m a Member of PETA
    People for the Eating of Tasty Animals.

    if God hadn’t wanted us to eat animals, He wouldn’t have made them out of MEAT!

  14. Reggie • April 13, 2012 @ 10:52 AM

    How come no mention of PETA’s 97 percent kill rate at their shelters? One in particular has killed over 27,000 pets.

  15. Joe • April 13, 2012 @ 3:45 PM

    Click on my name Reggie if you want to get informed. And btw, eating meat causes impotence, because meat clogs up the arteries going to all organs, not just to the heart. Just thought you might like to know that. Go to Peta’s website and read why they get the animals that no one will take in (because they’re suffering so much and so close to death already that no one wants to be responsible for euthanizing them) and what happens to other animals refused by no-kill shelters (one guy was turned away at a no-kill shelter when he took his dog there so he drove away, tossed his dog on the road and ran over him).

  16. Joe • April 13, 2012 @ 3:48 PM

    Oh, and in answer to jon doe:
    Perhaps a more appropriate question would be: If humans have hearts and brains, why don’t we use them? Because if we did, we would see that animals aren’t so very different from us. They clearly show affection, fear, joy, the desire to live, and more. They aren’t emotion-less machines whose lives are inconvenient stages on the way to our dinner table. They are living, breathing, feeling beings who want to lead their own lives just as people do. Once we recognize this, then it’s easy to turn to a diet free of decaying bits of corpses.

    It’s also just plain old good sense to reject a cholesterol-laden diet linked to heart disease, stroke, and many cancers and switch to healthier, delicious veggies, grains, fruits, and legumes.

  17. Rita • April 14, 2012 @ 4:15 AM

    About 2 years ago I came across a blog, that said peta killed dogs! What hypocrite’s. I forget what blog it was. I look up enough online. So I invite you to Google it.

  18. Meow Meow • April 15, 2012 @ 8:51 AM

    I agree with the PETA rep’s comment, even though I am neutral regarding PETA. But more importantly, why should Jennifer suddenly become a PETA member after her comment???? Wouldn’t that be false representation? If celebrities sincerely believed in the causes they represent, they would have been doing them BEFORE they were celebrities. How many do we know that subscribed to what they claim to support before they were famous? Anyone, anyone???? Thank you.

  19. Daniella • August 12, 2015 @ 12:33 PM

    I just lost so much respect for her.


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