Dan Mathews
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Dan Mathews is the Senior Vice President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He is known for heading PETA's most controversial and attention-getting campaigns, including the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" ads, as well as campaigns involving celebrities such as Morrissey, Pamela Anderson, Pink, and Paul McCartney.
In 2000, he was named by gay lifestyle magazine Genre as one of the most influential people of the new century.[volume & issue needed] When asked by the magazine who he considered an influential gay, he joked, spree killer "Andrew Cunanan, because he got Gianni Versace to stop using fur." In 2007, Mathews was ranked 37th in Out magazine's "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America".[1]
Mathews has written a memoir, Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir, which he characterised as "an adventure story. It's like 007 wearing freaky outfits".[2] Committed was published in the USA by Atria books in 2007 and in the UK by Duckworth Overlook in 2009.
In May 2009 he commented on the actions of the Governor General of Canada who, in participating in an Inuit tradition, consumed raw seal heart. He is quoted as saying to the Toronto Star "It amazes us that a Canadian official would indulge in such bloodlust. It sounds like she's trying to give Canadians an even more Neanderthal image around the world than they already have."[3] Asked how he feels about animal rights activists who send death threats and break the law, Mathews replied "I can't control it at all. But I will say that I've always been drawn to extremes. And I understand them and sympathise with them. Peta goes about things in a totally law-abiding way, but we understand the emotions that are involved in this issue and we completely understand why people are driven to extremes, even though it's not the way we choose to do it. So as a result we don't condemn them either."[4]
Notes
- ^ Oxfield, Jesse, Idov, Michael (March 4, 2007), ‘Out’ Ranks the Top 50 Gays; Anderson Is No. 2, New York Magazine. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
- ^ Wilson, Craig (April 11, 2007), Crusader's 'Committed' is a monument to PETA power, USA Today. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
- ^ Mitch Potter. "Row erupts over Governor General's seal taste" The Toronto Star May 26, 2009
- ^ Emma Brockes. "Dan Mathews of Peta: 'I've always been drawn to extremes'" The Guardian May 28, 2009
References
- Mathews, Dan, 'Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir, Atria Books, 2007. ISBN 0-7432-91875
- Mathews, Dan, 'Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir', Duckworth Overlook, 2009. ISBN 9780715638460
External links
- Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoirs from Duckworth Overlook site
- Dan Mathews in conversation with Richard Fidler (audio available)
- Naked in Nashville Mary Mancini and Freddie O'Connell of Liberadio(!) interview Dan Mathews
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