PETA shocked social media users Thursday after the animal rights group used a diᩚadℓy mass śh́óóting in Washington, DC, to protest the sale of foie gras in the nation’s capital.
“An active śh́óóting has been down the block from Mallard restaurant in DC, which is planning a foie gras dinner tonight,” read the organization’s shameless X post, which included a photograph of police cordoning off the road near the gym where Dr. Matt Lambert had just shot 5 people, 𝘬iᩚlling 1.
After noting PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk was “on scene,” the group wondered whether the establishment would “show its neighbors the consideration it’s refused to show ducks.”
Social media users were quick to jump down PETA’s throat after the insensitive post.
“You should be so ashamed of this tweet,” celebrity chef Jose Andres wrote on X. “People dead and injured and you tweet this?”
Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich shared the PETA tweet with the caption: “*picks up jaw off the floor*”
“My gosh, read the room,” read a post from another shocked X user. “It’s food. Irrelevant to today’s tᩚraɢedy.”
“There is something deeply wrong with this organization,” journalist Yashar Ali wrote in response to the PETA post.
In a tone-deaf follow up, PETA acknowledged it deleted the initial post but offered no apology.
“The śh́óóting this morning in DC was in PETA’s neighborhood, and these were our neighbors who were impacted. We canceled a protest scheduled today in front of Mallard restaurant for its despicable sale of foie gras out of respect for the victims of the śh́óóting, and in our tweet, we were calling on the restaurant to help eliminate violence by pulling the cruel item from its menu,” the group said.
“We took down our tweet because people who support and take part in the violent 𝘬iᩚlling of ducks and geese for foie gras, like Chef Jose Andres, were twisting it,” the post continued, “yet we encourage everyone to remember that it is possible to care about more than one thing at a time and to respect all life.”
Lambert ɠυɳned down his building manager, James Stuart, inside a Vida Fitness gym over a mold dispute Thursday morning and shot four others from the balcony of his apartment.
He then killed himself in his penthouse following an hour-long standoff with police.
