Star of L.A. Confidential and Babe Calls for Safeway Boycott

For Immediate Release:
April 2, 2002

Contact:
Bruce Friedrich (PETA)

Actor Declares: What Safeway Does to Animals "Sucks"

San Francisco — In a video statement released today, James Cromwell, star of movies including The Green Mile, L.A. Confidential, and Babe, calls on all compassionate Americans to boycott Safeway stores.

Cromwell states, "Safeway has failed consumers of conscience by refusing to pledge to improve the wretched plight of animals raised and killed for its shelves and freezer cases. … In my opinion, what Vons, Pavilions, and Safeway are doing to animals sucks. If the American public were aware of the cruelty meted out to animals in the process of making food sold in these stores, they would be outraged. To think that dogs and cats would go through the same things, … there would be an outrage. I believe [that] there should be an outrage for the cruelty meted out to the billions of animals killed every year to stock the shelves of Safeway, Vons, and Pavilions and that they need to be held to account …"

After refusing to match minimal animal welfare standards adhered to by McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's—all of which bowed to PETA pressure for more humane treatment of animals raised and slaughtered to fill the fast-food chains' menus—Safeway finds itself the latest target of a campaign by PETA.

PETA attempted to negotiate with Safeway executives for 16 months prior to its announcement of a boycott. Yet, despite the U.S. Senate's recent condemnation of slaughterhouse conditions, Safeway has refused to ensure that its suppliers are not dismembering fully conscious animals or engaging in other abuses.

Safeway, a Fortune 50 company, is one of the largest grocery chains in the U.S. Safeway has U.S. sales three times greater than McDonald's and operates 1,750 stores in 20 states and four Canadian provinces. There are more than 300 Safeway-owned Vons and Pavilions stores in Southern California, where Mr. Cromwell resides.

Click here for a transcript of the statement.