Ellen No Longer Vegan

“Ellen No Longer Vegan” has been a recent headline in the vegan community. Recently on her show, Ellen admitted to eating eggs. She qualified this statement by saying that she eats the eggs raised by chickens in her neighbor’s backyard. She said that she eats eggs from chickens “because they’re happy.” This comes as a shock, since the vegan community was galvanized in 2008, when Ellen admitted to going vegan.

Ellen No Longer Vegan

Many of her supporters are now disillusioned by her actions. In an interview on her show with Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo, Ellen DeGeneres said:

We have neighbors who have chickens, and we get our eggs from those chickens because they’re happy.

Eating Eggs Not Vegan

Ellen DeGeneres is no longer vegan because eating chickens, or their eggs, is not consistent with the definition of being a vegan. This isn’t a judgement, its just a fact: Ellen is no longer vegan. Although many of her fans would like an explanation, she is yet to comment further on the matter. In fact, it appears as though she thinks she doesn’t need to. As if eating “happy eggs” is consistent with a vegan lifestyle and doesn’t need to be addressed.

Unanswered Questions

Among the questions her fans want answered is if she considers herself a vegan. Also, how long has she been eating eggs? Was she claiming to be vegan, while knowingly eating eggs this whole time? And, is there some nuance to the definition of veganism, where one can eat animals, as long as they’re happy? To add to fan’s questions, all YouTube videos and the video on Ellen’s site were taken down. Instead of trying to create a dialogue about “happy chickens,” her show has been removed from Google, Yahoo and Bing websites.

When first going vegan, Ellen said:

Someone mentioned: ‘If you knew what chicken looked like or you knew how chicken was made, you’d never eat it again.’ Something snapped.

Surely, it is more humane to raise chickens in ones backyard. But even then, there are multiple issues to consider. For one thing, where does one get the chickens. Some are rescued, but most are bought from hatcheries. In the chicken hatcheries, males are killed for being useless to the hatchery. Male babies are often ground alive the day of their birth.

Unhappy Chickens

Those chickens lucky enough to be born female, quickly have their beaks cut. Then, they are put in cages often smaller than their bodies can adapt to. Chickens are then fed arsenic, Prozac, and other drugs to continue to lay eggs in these worsened conditions. From this perspective, raising chickens in one’s backyard may sound like a good proposition. But, the problem is that backyard chickens are actually sourced from these hatcheries.

This is where “Happy Chickens” Come From

Cover Girl Fiasco

This is not the first time that the media has questioned Ellen’s commitment to veganism. “Ellen No Longer Vegan” was the headline quickly after she signed a contract with Cover Girl. The vegan community wondered why she launched a vegan lifestyle site in spite of her Cover Girl announcement. Becoming a spokeswoman for Cover Girl means being part of a company that tortures animals. People were questioning how a vegan could justify that. Cover Girl, as a makeup company, tests their makeup products on animals.

Ellen DeGeneres with her wife, Portia de Rossi

Vegans want to stop animal testing, as it kills 2 million animals in the US alone. Cover Girl, with Ellen DeGeneres on board, tried to augment their strategy. They claim that they no longer test on animals. Critics don’t buy this either. Cover Girl sells make up in China. In order to do so, China mandates that every cosmetics company tests their products on animals.

A Paragon of Animal’s Rights

Ellen DeGeneres is no longer vegan, but she is still a paragon on many animal’s rights issues. It’s unfortunate to see her distance herself from the plight that chickens go through. From being genetically modified to be fatter, to living in cells smaller than their natural bodies, chickens endure a tough life.

Being fed arsenic and Prozac, before being sold to “happy chicken” farms, it is clear that consuming chickens or their eggs is not vegan. Acknowledging and rejecting the plight of factory farm animals will always remain a central pillar of the vegan lifestyle. No matter if celebrities decide to back it or not.

Why Ellen No Longer Vegan

Ellen was one of the most famous vegans, and we hope she changes her mind on this issue. We do not know for sure why Ellen is no longer vegan. But, one has to wonder if she went back to eggs because of a B-12 deficiency. This is the most common reason why people who are vegan for a long time, go back to eating animal sources. Since vitamin B-12 is not found from plant sources, many vegans have deficiencies in this vitamin. Without vitamin B-12, you may often feel sluggish or suffer from mental confusion. If this is the case, one takeaway from all this is to make sure you find a source of vitamin B-12 in your diet.