After Joaquin Phoenix’s Cow Milk Tirade, Retired Dairy Farmer Sets Him Straight
Following yet another Oscars that saw Hollywood’s elite lecture ordinary, hard-working people, some of those hard-working people are pushing back.
After winning the best actor award at the 92nd Academy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles, “Joker” star Joaquin Phoenix used his pulpit to champion environmentalism and international equality — before ultimately launching into a mostly nonsensical tirade against dairy farmers.
“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal,” Phoenix said during his bizarre speech.
The actor’s comments struck a nerve with dairy farmers across the globe, and many are speaking out.
Conservative political commentator Matt Walsh shared a hilarious rebuke of Phoenix he received from a retired Australian farmer.
“As a retired dairy farmer who has artificially inseminated many thousands of dairy cows, and stolen too many baby cows from their mothers to count over a long dairying career, I was mortified listening to [Phoenix’s speech],” the man wrote. “In my defense, I can tell you that I did what I did in ignorance.”
The Aussie farmer continued: “I had no idea that many cows were suffering so appallingly. And all this so that I could sip a latte each morning and pour milk all over my corn flakes; well actually, so that YOU could enjoy a latte and pour milk all over your corn flakes.”
He added: “Every cow I ever stole a calf from produced about seven times as much milk per day as her calf was capable of consuming anyway. … I always assumed that God must have created cows to produce milk for more than just their own offspring, so I did not feel too badly about drinking lattes or milkshakes, eating cornflakes, ice cream’s, cheese or yogurt, why, putting cream on my peaches was a luxury I was, until last night, still happily enjoying too. …
“I will have to think deeply about Joaquin‘s concerns and reassess my impact on my environment in the light of his heart rending speech last night.”
Email from a retired Australian dairy farmer reacting to Joaquin Phoenix’s rant against milk. This is a work of art. pic.twitter.com/SqaSd1Exks
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 11, 2020
Sarcastically, the Aussie farmer vowed to use the actor’s speech to “make the world a happier, more equitable, cleaner, greener, rainbow colored, excepting, tolerant, peaceful, victimless and secure place.”
Rick Barrett, a reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, spoke to dairy farmers in Wisconsin who also had a few words for Phoenix.
Carrie Mess, a dairy farmer from Lake Mills, said the actor “should get out of Hollywood for a while.”
“The natural world isn’t there [in Los Angeles], it’s out here, and it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” she said.
Tina Hinchley, another dairy farmer in Wisconsin, told the Sentinel that calves are taken from their mothers for their own safety, as there is a danger of the animals contracting infections such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria.
Hinchley also responded to Phoenix’s assertion that mother cows cry in “anguish” when their babies are taken.
“She’s going to moo for that calf a little bit, but she’s not charging at us or anything. It’s almost like, ‘Woo hoo, the babysitter is here. Now I can go eat.’ And that is what she needs to do,” Hinchley said.
Alan Bjerga, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, also responded to Phoenix’s comments.
Bjerga told Fox Business on Monday: “If [Phoenix] studied the commitment of dairy farmers to animal welfare and had a fuller understanding of the contribution of dairy products to a nutritious diet, especially for children, he might have a different perception of the value that dairy contributes to global health and the importance of the dairy sector to global livelihood.”
Every year, Hollywood’s A-list stars gather to hand out awards to one another and tell the rest of us how to live, how to eat and what to drive before galavanting around the world on their private jets and mega yachts.
Phoenix definitely met his match when he singled out dairy farmers. While many people find almond and soy milk to be suitable substitutes for cow’s milk, no amount of virtue signaling can replicate a real-world understanding of the complex issues facing people who live safely beyond the reach of morally bankrupt Hollywood.
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