People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals deleted a post calling on a local restaurant in Washington, D.C., to cancel its foie gras dinner planned for Thursday night in light of a fatal shooting earlier in the day.
The animal advocacy organization tied Thursday morning’s shooting in the Logan Circle neighborhood to Mallard’s foie gras-themed event by posting a statement underneath several news outlets’ articles about the tragic incident. The post was deleted after receiving pushback online.
In the brief video, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk noted the crime scene was located half a block away from Mallard before getting to the crux of her message.
“They won’t cancel for dead ducks, ones they caused to die, but maybe they’ll cancel for their neighbors. Fat chance,” Newkirk said in her British accent.
Jose Andres, a world-renowned chef who owns several restaurants in the nation’s capital, called out PETA over the post.
“You should be so ashamed of this tweet,” he posted on X. “People dead and injured and you tweet this?”
As of Thursday afternoon, the foie gras dinner is moving forward as planned.
The Washington Examiner contacted PETA and the restaurant’s owners for comment on the social media post.
The shooting left one victim and the alleged shooter dead and another four people injured. The suspect was identified as Dr. Matt Lambert, an emergency physician in the local area. Lambert committed the shooting at a nearby gym because he reportedly grew frustrated with his apartment building’s homeowner association. He allegedly killed his building’s manager.
Police officers and members of the National Guard swarmed Logan Circle and the surrounding areas during the active shooting situation, which ended after Lambert died by suicide. He barricaded himself inside an apartment building after opening fire.
The foie gras dinner comes over one week after 73% of Washington, D.C., residents voted for a ballot measure to outlaw the French cuisine. Foie gras, meaning “fatty liver,” is made from the enlarged liver of a duck or a goose that gets force-fed repeatedly.
Initiative 86 prohibits force-feeding of the birds and bans the sale and distribution of foie gras products in the district. The measure doesn’t take effect until July 2027, allowing local restaurants to continue serving foie gras over the next eight months.
DC RESTAURANT RECEIVES CEASE AND DESIST LETTER AFTER FOIE GRAS BAN
Last week, Animal Outlook sent a cease and desist letter to Mallard in an effort to pressure the restaurant to cancel its event. The animal rights group argued the restaurant violated Washington, D.C., law by advertising foie gras as “humanely raised.” In response, Mallard updated the language in its Instagram post advertising the dinner.
Ben Williamson, executive director of Animal Outlook, told the Washington Examiner that his organization received a brief written response from Mallard. The Neighborhood Restaurant Group, which co-owns Mallard, said it had “revised the language and reached out to all guests” about the updated language. Animal Outlook still wants the dinner to be canceled.