The Chain Gang

Ryan Gosling and Zooey Deschanel Tell McDonald’s ‘I’m Hatin’ It’

Huge Ed Begley Jr. fans.
Huge Ed Begley Jr. fans.

Last month, McDonald’s dropped its U.S. egg supplier, Sparboe Egg Farms, after video surfaced showing the torturous practices the company employs to run its egg empire. The video included such horrors as beak-burning and swinging chickens by their feet on a string. However, Micky D’s firing Sparboe isn’t enough for the compassionate-celebrity crowd, and now ten famous actors are attempting to mop up the mess themselves.

Huge Ed Begley Jr. fans.

HuffPo reports that a group of ten actors, including Steve-O, Ed Begley Jr., Ryan Gosling, Alicia Silverstone, and Zooey Deschanel, signed a joint letter to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner demanding that the fast-food megachain commit to buying only 100 percent cage-free eggs, much like the Golden Arches does in Europe. Flipping the script on McDonald’s jiggy catchphrase, the actors are pushing the campaign under the name “I’m Hatin’ It.”

Will the pleas of Ed Begley Jr. again go unheard? Or will the actors, none of whom probably ever eat at McDonald’s, manage to finally push the restaurant toward greater sustainability? Stay tuned as we await the chain’s response.

Dear Mr. Skinner:

After visiting McDonaldsCruelty.com and learning from my friends at Mercy For Animals that McDonald’s egg suppliers routinely torture egg-laying hens and their baby chicks, I have to tell you: “I’m Hatin’ It.”

On behalf of compassionate people everywhere, I implore you to help end the needless suffering of these animals by adopting strict and meaningful animal welfare policies worldwide, including the commitment to prohibit the purchase of eggs produced by hens who spend their miserable lives crammed into tiny wire cages.

While McDonald’s has already established a 100% cage-free purchasing policy in Europe, your U.S. restaurants continue to support egg factory farms that confine hens for most of their lives in cages so small they can’t even spread their wings.nearly anything that comes naturally to them. Common sense tells us that animals with legs and wings should be given the basic freedom to move.

Sadly, there is not a single federal law to protect hens from cruelty from the time they hatch to the time they are killed. While McDonald’s brags about the “billions and billions served,” millions of hens exploited for your restaurants are being grossly underserved. In fact, these animals are being abused in ways that would land your egg suppliers in jail, if dogs or cats were the victims.

In MFA’s investigative video, McDonald’s egg suppliers are shown burning off the beaks of baby birds without painkillers, chicks are shown trapped and mangled in cage wire suffering from untreated wounds, live chicks are slowly suffocated in trash bags, and dead and rotting corpses are left in cages with hens still laying eggs for McDonald’s Egg McMuffins.

While all of these abuses are unconscionable, perhaps the worst form of torture forced on these innocent animals is the use of battery cages. As you should know, battery cages are considered so cruel that leading animal welfare experts condemn them, and the entire European Union, as well as California and Michigan, have banned their use. A growing number of your competitors have already committed to only buying eggs from cage-free suppliers. It’s time for McDonald’s to stop clowning around and help put an end to some of the most abusive factory farming practices.

It’s a good time for some great changes at McDonald’s. As the largest egg buyer in the entire country, McDonald’s has the power - and the moral responsibility - to ensure that the eggs in its Egg McMuffins don’t come from rotten egg suppliers.

As a civilized society, it’s our moral obligation to prevent cruelty to animals - including those used in food production. Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.

Sincerely,

Ryan Gosling
Zooey Deschanel
Emily Deschanel
Wendie Malick
Alicia Silverstone
Maria Menounos
Kristin Bauer
Steve-O
Bryan Adams
Ed Begley, Jr.

HuffPo reports that a group of ten actors, including Steve-O, Ed Begley Jr., Ryan Gosling, Alicia Silverstone, and Zooey Deschanel, signed a joint letter to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner demanding that the fast-food megachain commit to buying only 100 percent cage-free eggs, much like the Golden Arches does in Europe. Flipping the script on McDonald’s jiggy catchphrase, the actors are pushing the campaign under the name “I’m Hatin’ It.”

Will the pleas of Ed Begley Jr. again go unheard? Or will the actors, none of whom probably ever eat at McDonald’s, manage to finally push the restaurant toward greater sustainability? Stay tuned as we await the chain’s response.

Celebrities Scold McDonald’s: Ryan Gosling, Zooey Deschanel, Alicia Silverstone Say ‘I’m Hating It’ [HuffPo]

Ryan Gosling and Zooey Deschanel Tell McDonald’s ‘I’m