Vegan Influencers Have Social Media Meltdown

Some vegan activists say the darndest things. And by “darndest” we mean “pretty darn offensive.”

Australian vegan James Aspey first gained notoriety in 2014 for taking a yearlong vow of silence. Based on reports of his latest animal activist antics, he may want to consider taking another, much longer, vow.

Aspey has recently come under fire for comparing animal farming to the Holocaust. While such derogatory comparisons are unfortunately commonplace in the vegan community, the social media influencer has taken it to new lows—going so far as to make the first line of his Instagram bio “Animal rights is an anti-Holocaust movement” and double down against anyone who challenges his views.

Throughout his social media pages, Aspey also regularly refers to farming as slavery and rape. Aspey has also been accused of conning his supporters.

Yet incredibly, many of his followers defend every post he makes. One of his most ardent defenders, Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram, had to defend herself for allegedly wearing blackface and hanging out with another vegan influencer, John Rose, who believes “Hitler was pretty nice to the Jews” and that “within 5 minutes you can prove the Holocaust is a scam.” (Here are the receipts.)

As the old adage goes, “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.”

In another corner of the internet, Kadie Karen Diekmeyer, better known as That Vegan Teacher, was banned from the social media platform TikTok. Diekmeyer, who compares “veganphobia” to homophobia, claimed it was more important and less self-righteous to come out as vegan than it was to come out as gay. Diekmeyer also compared farming to the Holocaust.

While it’s not public why Diekmeyer was banned from the platform, there seems to be plenty of cause. A petition lodged against her claims she “has made blatantly racist, bigoted, discriminatory statements against anyone who doesn’t view veganism her way and her way alone.” Additionally, the 56-year-old has made highly uncomfortable and sexual remarks about a 16-year-old boy.

In the case of these (v)egomaniacs, they may want to follow the adage that silence is golden.