Celebrity Vegans Interviewed on TMZ

TMZ recently released a video entitled “Vegan-sanity” in which the tabloid asked NBA champion John Salley, actress Emily Deschanel, drummer Travis Barker, and musician Moby questions about veganism. The site’s slightly sarcastic questions were met with clever responses. When asked, “so, what does a vegan drink?” Salley boldly responded with “Vegan Vine Wines,” a Portland, OR-based wine company in which he invested in 2012. TMZ then asked Salley if he knew Usher, to which he replied, “I’ve known him since he was 11.” When TMZ revealed that Usher quit veganism, Salley responded with, “well, I didn’t say he was the smartest cat in the world.” The site then asked Emily Deschanel if she could tell the difference between Crossroad’s fried chicken and “the real thing,” and Dechanel responded simply with, “I haven’t tried it but I suspect that is the truth.” In the same vein, TMZ caught up with Travis Barker to ask, “if you were to live off of one vegan dish for the rest of your life, what would it be?” Barker—an investor in Los Angeles-based vegan restaurant Crossroads Kitchen—responded, “the chicken parmigiana at Crossroads.” TMZ told Moby a story about a man in Indiana who was charged with murdering his wife and then eating her remains after which the tabloid stated that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals lobbied to force the man to eat only vegan food in jail. When asked what he thought of this, Moby responded with, “regardless of whether you’re vegan or not, most of us are opposed to cannibalism, especially murder and cannibalism. I imagine even omnivores are offended by that.” While TMZ has gained its popularity through being a shock tabloid, the jovial tone of this video—and quick-witted responses of its interview subjects—prove that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make veganism the butt of any joke.