Kimberly Elise Wants You to Go Vegan This New Year

Minneapolis Native and Hit the Floor Star’s PETA Radio Spot Promotes Healthy Meat-Free Meals

For Immediate Release:
January 3, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

“Do you know what medicine can reverse heart disease, curb obesity, ward off cancer, and keep you going strong? VEGAN FOOD.” That’s the message of Minneapolis native and actor Kimberly Elise‘s new PETA public service announcement (PSA), which is hitting the airwaves in her hometown this week as many embark on their New Year’s resolutions.

“Stock your shelves with fruits, veggies, and grains, and try those veggie burgers and sausages you’ve seen on grocery store shelves,” Elise says in the PSA, which will air on KSTP-FM 60 times this week. “Live the healthy life you deserve—go on, try it!”

African-American communities and low-income neighborhoods are often disproportionately affected by a lack of access to healthy, fresh food. But in Minneapolis, popular vegan-friendly restaurants include Ethiopian favorite Fasika, which has an all-vegan Vege-Sampler, as well as Trio Plant-based, which is “[b]uilt upon a foundation of love and racial justice” and whose menu includes soul food platters, soups, salads, and more.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that in addition to reducing their risk of suffering from heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and obesity, people who go vegan each save the lives of nearly 200 animals a year. Vegan meals are also an excellent choice for people who suffer from digestive problems if they consume cow’s milk—a condition affecting 70 percent of African-Americans. The group is also running Elise’s PSA on radio stations in Atlanta, D.C., Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York.

In addition to her NAACP Image Award–winning performances in projects such as For Colored Girls, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and Soul Food, Elise is known for her popular website, which offers vegan recipes, health advice, natural beauty tips, and more. She will next appear in Ad Astra, to be released later this year.

Elise is part of a long list of celebrities—including Nia Long, Mýa, Alicia Silverstone, RZA, Kat Graham, Joaquin Phoenix, Forest Whitaker, Peter Dinklage, Jermaine Dupri, and Emily Deschanel—who’ve teamed up with PETA to promote healthy and humane meat-free meals.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.