Vegan NFL Star Nominated for Webby Award

A video featuring vegan National Football League (NFL) player Tyrann Mathieu has been nominated for the Public Service & Activism category of the 20th annual Webby Awards—an online contest in which users are prompted to “vote for the best of the internet.” Mathieu partnered with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to create the video, which features him sitting in a hot car to demonstrate the devastating effects of leaving companion animals locked inside vehicles. The athlete was able to withstand the heat—which rose from 90 degrees to 120 degrees—for only eight minutes. More than 1.5 million people voted in the Webby Awards, and the football player’s video is currently in the lead against the four other competitors in the category. Mathieu—affectionately known as the “honey badger”—went vegan earlier this year and posts inspirational thoughts to his 354,000 Twitter followers regularly.