In between hitting line drive homers and almost getting beaned in the dome, the Phillies’ Shane Victorino enjoys himself a Spam musubi every once in a while. And, of course, PETA is all bent out of shape over it.
A musubi is a piece of Spam and a small block of rice wrapped in seaweed and is one of the most popular food items in Victorino’s home state of Hawaii. To the calm, rational folks at PETA, though, if you eat one you might as well be jamming a fork into a pig’s face. They’re looking for Victorino to condemn the treatment of pigs at a farm that supplies meat to Spam-maker Hormel. Thus far, he’s doing what most people do when PETA’s badgering them — ignoring them.
The HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN has fallen for the PR stunt, if only because it gives them another excuse to write about the Flyin’ Hawaiian.
Dan Shannon, PETA’s assistant director, wrote an email to Victorino explaining that some pigs were treated poorly before they were killed and turned into a tasty treat:
“While Spam might be a popular foodstuff in your native Hawaii, before you take another cholesterol-packed bite, let me tell you about the horrific abuse of animals at the hands of Spam’s pork suppliers,” he wrote.
In an interview, Shannon said he decided to write Victorino a letter after learning the player had listed Spam musubi - featuring a slice of meat wrapped with seaweed on top of rice - as one of his favorite dishes in a TV sports show.
“We found some hideous cruelty to animals,” Shannon said of the video, which showed multiple pigs being beaten with metal gate rods and two men jabbing clothespins into pigs’ eyes and faces.
While Victorino in’t particularly well-known outside of Philly on the mainland, he’s a major celebrity in Hawaii, where the newspapers have run articles about him nearly every day since the beginning of the MLB playoffs. The islands haven’t been this baseball-mad since Benny Agbayani went to the World Series with the Mets in 2000.
Shannon said that he’s calling on Victorino to publicly decry the conditions at the farm and/or give up eating Spam. But in a state where jamming a stick through an entire pig and letting it rotate for a while is considered a “party,” PETA might be fighting a losing battle here. Of the 61 comments left in response to the STAR-BULLETIN’s story, about 58 of them ended with “I’m gonna go eat some Spam now.”
6:25 pm on October 15th, 2008
PETA should also go after Victorino for the way he's been abusing horsehide.
6:32 pm on October 15th, 2008
Amazing how the PETA kooks are now in the media mainstream. Makes you wonder just how many kooks are in the msm. Sad.
6:38 pm on October 15th, 2008
I hear tell Shane's favorite breakfast is spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam and spam.
6:43 pm on October 15th, 2008
Baked beans are off.
6:51 pm on October 15th, 2008
Could he have spam instead of baked beans?
7:01 pm on October 15th, 2008
Bloody Vikings.
7:15 pm on October 15th, 2008
What did you say about the Vikings?
Oh, not those Vikings.
7:24 pm on October 15th, 2008
What does it matter what Shane Victorino eats? These PETA freaks need to shut up.
7:32 pm on October 15th, 2008
Is there anything served in The Islands that doesn't contain 8,000 grams of fat?
Zippy's anyone?
8:13 pm on October 15th, 2008
To honor Shane's contributions to the Phillies, someone should come up with a Spam cheesesteak.
8:26 pm on October 15th, 2008
F*** PETA….. Who gives a crap how the poor Pigs are treated? THEY'RE ABOUT TO BE EATEN FOR GODS SAKES. If you want to live a crazy lifestyle and forego meat, then that is your idiotic choice. Don't try to force your moronic decision on others. I think I'm going to make a special run to the store and buy some Spam.
8:32 pm on October 15th, 2008
As a joke, one of my buddies brought a can of Spam to a cookout. We grilled it, and it didn't taste half bad. Kind of like a really salty ham.
8:46 pm on October 15th, 2008
Zippy's is awesome! The chili can't be beat.
And nobody knock spam musubi until you try it.
7:44 am on October 17th, 2008
Technically speaking, is spam actually meat?
11:38 pm on April 9th, 2009
Great blog, sounds like you really know what you are talking about. Your words flow together very nicely making it easy to read. I can’t tell you how many bloggers have poor writing skills. You however, are among the better ones I have read. I am subscribing to your RSS feed to stay up to date. Thanks!
4:14 pm on April 24th, 2011
ur all losers!! leave the guy alone! no 1 critics u on ur favorite food! btw i like spam 2 and i was born on the mainland!ive never been in hawaii! u all should go 2 hell 4 being so rude 2 shane victorino
4:17 pm on April 24th, 2011
hes not abusing anything do u have the proof he is a man trying 2 make a living and raise a family i dont think he has time with a new baby 2 slaughter or abuse anything