Gojira may have wowed viewers around the world as red streamers mimicking a torrential downpour of blood rained from the windows of Paris’ Conciergerie palace — where beheaded Marie Antoinettes stood — into the Seine during the band’s performance at the Summer Olympics’ Opening Ceremony, but frontman Joe Duplantier wants fans to take a less sanguineous route for the holidays. And so, the French rocker has partnered with PETA to urge fans to forgo meat and animal products not just when gathering with friends and family, but every day.
“The holidays are the perfect time for people to try out new traditions with their friends and family that leave cruelty behind. It makes sense to celebrate kindness and peace on Earth with a delicious vegan feast that didn’t cost anyone their life,” Duplantier tells Billboard. “When I chose to go plant-based, I thought I would miss all the foods I grew up on, but surprisingly, the transition was painless. A vegan diet brings joy, energy and an unexplainable sense of relief knowing nobody’s getting slaughtered for my food.”
“Nowadays it’s so easy to switch to a vegan diet with all the meat replacements and different plant-based milks and cheeses,” he notes. “Join the revolution! End the torture!”
Gojira’s Joe Duplantier for PETA
Courtesy of PETA
In an accompanying video for the PETA campaign, the rocker — who has been vegan for 10 years — shares that he chose a cruelty-free diet because of his love for animals. “It’s about the life of the animals and what they go through. But another benefit of being vegan is for your own health,” he explains while discussing the topic in a studio, as the metal band’s “The Trails” plays. “There’s no way eating animals or animal products that are a product of violence can be good for you. I have more energy now when I perform since I became vegan.”
Duplantier also highlights the horrors of the meat industry. “The way we treat animals — animal farms, the factories, the slaughterhouses — is unacceptable,” he declares as clips of the abuse pigs, cows and chickens endure appear. “Even non-vegans, I think, if they would spend a day in a slaughterhouse, they would come out of that vegan.”
“It’s not just an ethical question anymore, but it’s also a question of survival for our species,” he concludes, alluding to the massive amount of resources that goes into factory farming and the damage it does to the planet. “You have to go vegan.”
Watch Duplantier urge fans to try a vegan diet in the video below:
