Red Lobster CEO to Receive Whiskey and Vegan Crabcakes From PETA: ‘Give Vegan Seafood a Shot!’

For Immediate Release:
May 23, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Following news that Red Lobster has filed for bankruptcy and closed dozens of restaurants, PETA is dispatching a delivery for CEO Jonathan Tibus that contains delicious, flaky crab-free crabcakes as well as a nip of whiskey and a note encouraging him to take a shot, then give vegan seafood a shot. 

“Red Lobster’s day of reckoning for selling the flesh of sea animals who were abducted from their ocean homes or packed into filthy farms is here,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges the chain to acknowledge the turning of the tide and embrace a vegan rebrand—for everyone’s sake.”

Crabs and lobsters are often thrown into pots of scalding-hot water and boiled alive. Many whip their bodies wildly and scrape the sides of the pot in a desperate attempt to escape an agonizing death. Other aquatic animals taken from their ocean homes are impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open and gutted, all while they’re still conscious. Farmed fish are raised on massive, crowded aquafarms, where many endure an early death from parasitic infections, diseases, and injuries, and those who survive are starved for days before they’re sent to slaughter. 

Every person who goes vegan saves the lives of nearly 200 animals—including aquatic ones—every year, and PETA offers a free vegan starter kit for anyone looking to make the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.