Vegan Quarterback Justin Fields Wins PETA Athlete Award

For Immediate Release:
December 7, 2021

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Bears first-round draft pick Justin Fields is already nabbing an MVP award—that is, from PETA, which has just awarded the vegan rookie quarterback the title of Favorite Animal-Friendly Athlete in its 2021 Libby Awards. “Libby” is short for “liberation”—as in “animal liberation”—and the awards, from PETA’s youth division, recognize the most powerful players on the animal rights scene.

Fields went vegan in May 2020 as part of a 28-day detox—and was immediately impressed with the results. “I just liked how I felt after that and I just kept going on from there,” he explained while still at Ohio State University. “I feel great, my body feels great and I feel faster and stronger.” Now, he’s still enjoying the extra recovery boost that he gets from eating vegan: As he explains, “Science proves that being plant-based and eating those things heals your body faster and helps your body recover.”

“Justin Fields is living proof that peak performance on the field can start with vegan meals in the kitchen,” says PETA Senior Director of Youth Programs Marta Holmberg. “PETA is celebrating this animal-friendly athlete for setting a compassionate example for football fans in Chicago and beyond.”

Carolina Panthers star Robby Anderson was also in the running for Favorite Animal-Friendly Athlete, in recognition of his work speaking up for dogs chained outside 24/7. The other two nominees were vegan pro surfer Tia Blanco and vegan Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter, both of whom—like everyone else who goes vegan—save the lives of nearly 200 animals a year, simply by keeping them off their plates.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.