Having your life scrutinized by the public is part of what comes with being a celebrity — for better or worse. While it can understandably be frustrating when prying eyes threaten people’s privacy, there’s also an aspect of accountability involved, with those who may be idolized by millions of fans being held to a certain moral standard. That seems to be the goal of PETA, and the animal rights organization has butted heads with a number of celebrities over the years, calling them out publicly for practices including wearing fur, eating meat and purchasing pets from breeders, rather than adopting.
While the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals seems to have its heart in the right place, many have criticized the organization for using outrageous tactics, bullying and spreading misinformation to get its points across. Whichever side of the issue you fall on, here are some of the celebrities who definitely got on PETA’s bad side recently:
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton drew the ire of the animal rights organization in July 2023, after she got her new Chihuahua — a reported relative of the hotel heiress’ dog Harajuku Bitch, who died in May — from a breeder rather than a shelter. A rep for PETA told TMZ:
Paris Hilton has apparently been living under a rock for the past decade, because a day in an animal shelter would have shown her just how many Chihuahuas already need homes, and five minutes on Petfinder would turn up thousands more, including puppies. PETA knows that retail therapy is what Paris loves best, but we ask her to keep the shopping to baubles and bags and give an animal a chance to be ‘sliving’ by adopting.
That wasn’t the first time PETA addressed this issue with Hilton. In 2016, a billboard was reportedly put up in Los Angeles, referring to her as “the Puppy Pimp.”
Pete Davidson
Pete Davidson had a similar experience with the activists in 2023, after he and girlfriend Chase Sui Wonders were seen taking home a cavapoo puppy from the Manhattan pet store Citipups, following the death of his 2-year-old dog Henry. After PETA urged the actor to show some “big heart energy” by adopting, Davidson lashed out in an expletive-filled voicemail to PETA’s senior vice president of cruelty investigations Daphna Nachminovitch, in which he explained he had to get a specific dog due to his allergies. He ended his message by saying, “Fuck you, and suck my dick.”
Kim Kardashian
For reality TV queen Kim Kardashian, it was the treatment of her two Pomeranian pups that inspired PETA to speak out in December 2022, after a video showed Sake and Sushi living in a windowless garage. The organization’s senior vice president pointed out (via Page Six) that dogs are “highly social pack animals who need more than just soft beds and decorative stockings,” imploring the billionaire businesswoman to allow Sushi and Sake inside her home.
Kardashian’s most notorious run-in with the animal activist group — the flour-bombing of 2012 — actually had nothing to do with PETA at all. Her former media strategist has admitted the “attack” on the reality queen was an inside job for publicity. It was believed at the time that PETA was responsible, despite the group denying involvement.
Kylie Jenner
The animal rights group has also spoken out over the years to praise celebrities and TV or movie productions that show that animals don’t have to be harmed for entertainment or fashion. That was the case for Kardashian’s sister, Kylie Jenner, when the makeup mogul wore a dress with a huge (but fake) lion’s head sewn on the front. PETA praised the bold look for being “a statement against trophy hunting,” crafted from only cruelty-free materials.
Dakota Johnson
In January of 2023, Dakota Johnson found herself in hot water with the animal activists for becoming the ambassador for Gucci’s Jackie 1961 series of handbags, with the site boasting that their products came “from distinct styles in crocodile to new favorites in python.” PETA described videos that allegedly showed animal cruelty at the slaughterhouses that provided Gucci with their skins, and asked the Fifty Shades of Grey star to commit to not wearing or promoting exotic skin as fashion.
Brittany Mahomes
The wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Brittany, deleted some vacation posts in July 2023, after PETA criticized her pics that involved a dolphin. They showed Brittany “snuggling” a 400-pound dolphin as well as her and daughter Sterling Skye swimming with them. A spokesperson for the group explained what happens to dolphins under the “stressful conditions of extreme captivity,” asking her to extend her compassion for animals to include marine life.
Joel McHale
PETA took aim at the Fox comedy Animal Control back in February 2023 for its use of live animals on its show, rather than CGI or other VFX, but the group’s statement got a bit personal with series star Joel McHale. After asking if the actor — like the aforementioned Paris Hilton — lived under a rock, PETA went on to criticize the “sickening soup of animal exploitation,” and ended its rants against McHale by saying:
Read the room, Joel McFail: Animals aren’t the key to your comeback, and neither is this sad show.
Yikes! With the series, surprisingly, being renewed, should we expect another strongly worded statement for the actor ahead of Season 2?
Rihanna
In the weeks following Rihanna’s epic pregnancy announcement in February 2023, the soon-to-be mother of two was seen out and about wearing a full-length coat made from what PETA said was probably real fur. They offered to send her a faux fur coat, appealing to her maternal instincts with a letter that read (per TMZ):
As a mother, you know what it’s like to feel protective and to want to make sure no harm comes to your family. Please understand that this desire — this instinct even — is shared by the minks, foxes, and rabbits who are torn away from their families and killed for their fur.
Whether you side with PETA or agree with the celebrities who have beefed with the organization over fashion or where they find their pets, nobody can deny that the group’s tactics are often successful in drawing attention to the issue. For that reason, we’ll likely continue to see these kinds of run-ins in the future.