Two Thumbs Down for HSUS's Hollywood Hypocrite

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) loves to show off the clueless celebrities that support its vegan causes. Actress Kristen Bell is no different. She first came on HSUS’s radar in 2010, talking about her rescue dogs—in which case, she probably should have associated with a group that gives more than 1% of its budget to pet shelters.

Now, Bell, while also hawking her latest film, “Movie 43,” is strangely comparing herself to pigs and joining with HSUS to attack the use of individual maternity pens (IMPs) on pork farms to safely house pregnant pigs. Never mind that veterinarians and animal experts concerned about animal welfare say that IMPs are humane. When an uninformed celebrity speaks, HSUS hopes you’ll listen.

Bell claims to be a vegan, so that puts her in line with HSUS’s vegan agenda. But what happens when her animal activism gets in the way of making a few bucks?

Just ask the owners of L’Scorpion, a Los Angeles tequila bar and restaurant, who are being sued by Bell for not paying out to Bell. The suit claims that Bell and four others dropped $20,000 each in 2005 to take home 5% of the profits.

Since Bell has been a vegetarian since she was 11 years old, there’s no way that a restaurant she invested in sells meat, right? Oh wait, this is Hollywood—the land where “Do what I say, not as I do” meets “Everybody has the right to my opinion.” A quick look at L’Scorpion’s food menu shows that more than a few dishes contain meat or fish. You can start with a ceviche (seafood) and move on to the chicken taco. Or perhaps you’d prefer the chicken fillet? We’re fans of the enchilada plate, which often contain meat.

But we still wondered: Where’s the “other white meat”? So we gave L’Scorpion a call. We found out that pork carnitas were on the menu for quite some time. We also learned that they have some really good chicken wings that aren’t listed on the online menu.

Bell, through her representative, now says that “[s]he hasn’t been involved in the affairs of the venture” but that she was one of the initial investors. So maybe L’Scorpion had an all veggie menu back in 2006 when it opened? It did—if you ignore the shredded chicken soup, the shrimp and halibut ceviche, carne asada nachos (that’s beef), the Hollywood Enchiladas (which you can get filled with beef or chicken), the gorditas with beef—and last but not least, the chorizo (that’s Spanish pork sausage, in case you were wondering).

Considering that the standard practice on U.S. pork farms is to use IMPs for pregnant sows, odds are that Bell’s restaurant served pork raised in the housing she now tries to condemn (though we can’t say for sure).

If Bell can’t recoup her meaty investment, perhaps she can rely on her earnings from “Movie 43.” But based on the reviews calling it one of the worst movies ever, we hope she isn’t holding out for profits.