This year's Hollywood award season is proving desperate for ratings as was shown when the Golden Globes kicked things off by going vegan in January. So we’re tackling it this week on the podcast. Several celebrities spoke up, including Joaquin Phoenix, in post-show interviews. Joaquin didn't cool it off for the Oscars in February. In fact, he heated things up with comments bashing farmers in his acceptance speech.... and agriculture responded fiercely.
Carrie took the opportunity to respond in a timely manner by writing her own letter in response to Joaquin's comments. That letter and a following interview made a splash across the country. So we sat down over a beer to discuss what happened and offer our perspectives on what can be learned for future moments in time when public figures disagree with agriculture in another Over A Beer episode to discuss. You can find episode show notes here.
Thanks to our sponsors (Yes! We finally have sponsors) Kiah Twisselman and Melissa Laurent for buying us a beer. If you'd like to buy us a beer or get me to Wisconsin for future episodes, hit me up on Venmo.
Carrie's letter (Dear Joaquin) had nearly 300,000 views in the first few days following the event. Her interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Stung by Oscar speech, dairy farmers suggest actor Joaquin Phoenix doesn't know what he's talking about) was picked up by the USA Today news wire and spread across the country, reaching audiences far outside of agriculture with a message from a dairy farmer.
Joaquin Phoenix isn't the only public figure to speak out against animal agriculture and to receive backlash from farmers and ranchers. Miss Montana USA did it with vegan posts on Instagram. Even presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg did it with comments about the simplicity of farming.
Agriculture's response to these situations is often swift, harsh and condescending with an invitation to "come visit my farm/ranch to learn what real agriculture looks like!!!" But that rarely, if ever is a good idea when these public figures are known to be completely against our way of life.
How do we respond more productively? How can we better leverage these situations to reach the people we want to hear our stories? Listen in on this episode as Carrie and I discuss.
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