Vegan lashed over insensitive Black Lives Matter TikTok video

A vegan influencer has urged people to “connect” the killing of animals and black people as the two issues are “the same fight”.

A vegan influencer has been slammed online after claiming the killing of black people and animals were “the same fight”.

Lauren Rebecca Perez is a US influencer who describes herself as a “plant-based babe” and tweets under the handle @laurenluvsveg.

The US has been brought to a standstill as protests continue in response to the killing of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man who died after officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes.

While some protests have been peaceful others have turned violent as looters take advantage of the unrest to rob businesses and police react aggressively to try to control crowds.

Influencer and vegan activist Lauren Rebecca Perez.

The movement has prompted an outpouring of support across the world, including Australia, with many showing their solidarity with protesters through social media.

In a video originally shared to TikTok that was later posted to Twitter, Ms Perez urges people to “connect the dots” and think of animals.

“I feel like this needs to be said and I really wish that more people would connect these two dots, but black lives matter and animal lives matter,” she said.

“Literally all sentient beings on this planet deserve a life free from fear, free from abuse, free from unjust prosecution.”

The fight to end oppression for animals is the same fight to end the oppression of black people ❤️❤️❤️ All sentient beings deserve to live #BLM pic.twitter.com/E1TpOlkGOD

— Lauren Luvs Veggies â“‹ (@laurenluvsveg) June 2, 2020

Ms Perez said no one, “especially ones with differently coloured skin than yours and animals” deserved this kind of ill treatment.

“It’s not their time to die, they don’t deserve to die. So stop killing black people and stop killing animals,” she said.

Ms Perez ended her video by calling on people to “connect” Black Lives Matter with veganism.

Veganism, Black Lives Matter movement is all the same fight, all of it and it’s important each one of them is so individually important,” she said.

“I really hope that people can start to connect the two.”

Her video has been slammed by vegans.

However not everyone agreed with her video, which quickly racked up more than 500,000 views who were blunt about her argument.

just stop talking

— 904 🥺🥰 (@jahIeilah) June 3, 2020

No you did NOT just say that animal rights and the rights for black human beings is the same fight...

— Yani (@Yanizenko) June 2, 2020

Continuing the legacy of dehumanizing black people? Lol. Our bodies and blood are still warm on the streets & you couldn’t WAIT to bring in the animals huh. That’s how much you don’t actually care. Derailing a movement while black humans around the globe are STILL suffering.

— ΛDRIΛN (@AdrianXpression) June 2, 2020

Ms Perez’s post even attracted criticism from another vegan:

I am passionate about animal liberation. I've been vegan for 6 years, and was vegetarian for 12 years before that.

But this tweet comes across as really tone-deaf & cruel. You're hijacking this pivotal moment for the #BLM movement to promote your own agenda. It's a bad look.

— Jessica Masterson (@jlmasterson) June 3, 2020

Okay Im vergan and have been for 2 years and this is embarassing.

— ACAB bitch. (@hmroy_) June 2, 2020

Ms Perez has since responded to the controversy:

I’m Latina. The message in my video was this: I’m a vegan fighting to end the oppression of all sentient beings on this planet. I support the Black Lives Matter movement & any other movement that seeks to do the same. It’s the same fight for me ❤️

— Lauren Luvs Veggies Ⓥ (@laurenluvsveg) June 2, 2020

Ms Perez isn’t the only influencer to be slammed over her response to the protests.

Video of a woman pretending to help repair a ransacked Los Angeles shop for a video op before hopping back into her Mercedes and driving off has been viewed more than 25.3 million times.

This lady stopped someone boarding up a store in Santa Monica so she could hold the drill for a picture, then drove away. Please don’t do this. #santamonicaprotest #BlackLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatterLA pic.twitter.com/lgt2rZogk9

— ewu (@ewufortheloss) June 1, 2020

Another video of an activewear-clad woman posing solemnly in front of a broken window before walking off has also been shared multiple times.

I knew this would happen eventually pic.twitter.com/V3bB92iaPB

— influencersinthewild (@influencersitw) June 1, 2020