Billie Eilish has hit back at people calling her a ‘hypocrite’ after her recent remarks about meat-eating.
The singer was brought up vegetarian and has followed a vegan lifestyle for more than 10 years. She’s long been outspoken about animal welfare, and her latest comments sparked fresh debate online after she suggested that ‘eating meat is inherently wrong’.
Eilish, who recently stepped out publicly with boyfriend Nat Wolff at the premiere of her new film, made the comments during a new interview with ELLE. When asked: “What hill would you die on?” she didn’t hold back.
Eilish, 24, replied: “Y’all are not going to like me for this one… eating meat is inherently wrong.
“And the other thing is, two things can not coincide: ‘I love animals. I love all animals so much, and I eat meat.’ You just can’t do both, sorry.”
Social media users quickly weighed in, with some accusing the artist of being out of touch and others defending her right to speak from personal conviction.
One critic said: “It is SO privileged, do you know how expensive that vegan s**t is?”
“You can appreciate and love animals while still understanding that we are animals ourselves and need to eat,” insisted another.
Eilish then addressed the reaction on Instagram Stories.
After posting a series of graphic clips showing animals such as pigs and cows being mistreated, she added: “Go watch a documentary or two and some footage of what is done to the animals u claim to love and what it does to the planet u pretend to love as well. if that footage was hard for u to watch i encourage u to pls take a look at urself.
“Like i am so tired of standing up for/having empathy for living beings being controversial. pls continue to live in a constant state of cognitive dissonance and denial and try to convince urself that ur not living a lie.”
“Stay f***ng mad at ME,” she penned on a separate Instagram Story. “I really don’t give a goddamn f**k.”
Not everyone pushed back against the star’s comments, however. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) publicly praised her for speaking up.
Resharing a snippet of her interview, the organization said: “What’s on your plate isn’t separate from your values! @billieeilish said what needed to be said with @elleusa and we’re standing on it. If you truly love animals, you can’t eat them!”