DJ Tigerlily has officially apologised on Instagram after copping a slew of backlash for an incredibly questionable PETA campaign. The campaign depicted a heavily pregnant Tigerlily, whose real name is Dara Hayes, clutching her stomach with tears streaming down her face. A message accompanied it: “What if they took your baby away?”
Unsurprisingly, people were quick to point out the poor choice of words, given, y’know, Australia’s genocidal invasion and systematic stealing of Aboriginal children from their families, also known as the Stolen Generation.
“The dairy industry steals calves from their mothers,” the campaign read. “Go vegan.”
Oh no. No no no no no.
In an official press release and video campaign from PETA, Tigerlily explained the dairy farming process using some pretty questionable language. At one point, she even says, “As a soon-to-be mother, I can only imagine the anguish these mothers feel when they have baby after baby stolen.”
Of course, she’s not talking about the trauma that was inflicted onto Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for generations, or even the forced removal of Aboriginal children that still continues even today. She’s talking about cows.
It’s all well and good to promote veganism, but when it’s done so in a way that acts as if the forced removal of children is hypothetical, negating the very real history of Australia, it’s completely ignorant.
Fans descended onto Tigerlily’s Instagram page with their thoughts, with one aptly pointing out the problematic nature of the campaign.
“Saying ‘imagine they stole your baby’ like it’s some outrageous concept. Let’s not forget the babies and children that were stolen from their families during colonisation, and the babies and children that are still removed at alarming rates within Aboriginal communities,” one person commented.
The campaign photo was also reposted by noted gossip Insta account, @influencer.updates.au, with the comments section absolutely obliterating Tigerlily.
“Has she heard about the Stolen Generation? Gross,” one person commented.
Others were quick to point out the contradictory nature of her actions. “I don’t understand that she still follows Emma Claiir but is doing this ad for PETA.”
“She is still following Emma Claiir… doesn’t really align with this campaign,” another said.
While other commenters focused on PETA’s problematic history.
“PETA is such a controversial organisation, with so many flaws including spreading misinformation and euthanising animals in their ‘care centres’,” one person commented. “Any true animal lover would know this.”
On Friday, Tigerlily issued an apology via her Instagram Stories (because of course she did).
“I’m incredibly sorry to anyone that I may have caused harm or concern to by participating in this campaign,” she said in the statement.
“The purpose of this PETA campaign was to shed light on the dairy industry and how heartbreaking the non-consensual removal of babies from their mothers for exploitation is.
“I am very sorry for the associations that have been made to The Stolen Generation. This was definitely not our intention with the campaign.
“I acknowledge the execution of the campaign messaging should have been different, and that this was an oversight stemming from privilege.”
Honestly, it’s kinda giving ChatGPT-generated apology energy.
Tigerlily has since deleted the campaign ad from her Instagram page. The post appears to have also been deleted from the official PETA Australia Instagram page, however the campaign remains on their website.
