PETA faced widespread outrage Thursday after posting on X about a deadly shooting in Washington, D.C., which they used to protest a nearby restaurant’s planned foie gras dinner.
The organization deleted the post amid the backlash.
The original PETA tweet noted that an active shooting had occurred down the block from Mallard restaurant in D.C., which was planning a foie gras dinner that night.
The post added that PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk was “on the scene.”
“An active shooting has been down the block from Mallard restaurant in SDC, which is planning a foie gras dinner tonight. PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk is on the scene: Perhaps Mallard will show its neighbors the consideration it’s refused to show ducks,” the post read.
There is something deeply wrong with this organization. https://t.co/hZxUgVeuzN
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 12, 2026
In a follow-up statement, PETA acknowledged deleting the tweet but offered no apology.
The group said the shooting was in its neighborhood and affected its neighbors, that it had canceled a planned protest outside Mallard out of respect for the victims, and that the tweet was meant to urge the restaurant to pull foie gras from its menu to help eliminate violence.
Celebrity chef Jose Andres responded on X, “You should be so ashamed of this tweet……People dead and injured and you tweet this?”
You should be so ashamed of this tweet……People dead and injured and you tweet this?
— Chef José Andrés 🕊️🥘🍳 (@chefjoseandres) November 12, 2026
PETA subsequently claimed it removed the post because “supporters of foie gras,” including Andres, were twisting its message, while insisting it is possible to care about more than one issue at a time and to respect all life.
While there are absolutely valid arguments for banning foie gras, which involves force-feeding ducks and geese to enlarge their livers before slaughter, PETA’s attempt to make an actual murder about themselves as it was still unfolding may be a new low for them.
The shooting this morning in DC was in PETA’s neighborhood, and these were our neighbors who were impacted. We canceled a protest scheduled today in front of Mallard restaurant for its despicable sale of foie gras out of respect for the victims of the shooting, and in our tweet,…
— PETA (@peta) November 12, 2026
The organization reposted the same statement in replies to many of the posts calling them out.
It read in full:
The shooting this morning in DC was in PETA’s neighborhood, and these were our neighbors who were impacted. We canceled a protest scheduled today in front of Mallard restaurant for its despicable sale of foie gras out of respect for the victims of the shooting, and in our tweet, we were calling on the restaurant to help eliminate violence by pulling the cruel item from its menu. We took down our tweet because people who support and take part in the violent killing of ducks and geese for foie gras, like Chef Jose Andres, were twisting it, yet we encourage everyone to remember that it is possible to care about more than one thing at a time and to respect all life.
The shooting took place Thursday morning in the Logan Circle area at a VIDA Fitness location.
Authorities reported that one person was killed and multiple others were injured before the gunman died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a standoff with police.
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Mallard, a Southern restaurant, had scheduled a four-course foie gras dinner for that evening amid ongoing debate over a recent voter-approved ban on the dish in the District.
This is not the first time PETA has deleted a post after being called out on their nonsense.
“In 2021, @PETA falsely claimed ‘Trump did nothing to stop animal experimentation,’ ignoring the administration’s historic steps working with WCW to stop some of the government’s worst animal testing abuses. They deleted their post after it was exposed as a lie.”
📰 PETA Busted Again: Leftist Animal Rights Group Stealth Edits Bogus Anti-Trump Smear About Russian Cat Experiments After Being Exposed by @gatewaypundit and White Coat Waste
By @CassandraRules
Jan. 21, 2026 2:20 pmIn yet another embarrassing fumble by the far-left activists at PETA, the organization has been caught making stealth edits to an article falsely claiming the Trump administration is funding gruesome experiments on cats in Russia.
The edits come just days after Gateway Pundit and the animal testing watchdog organization White Coat Waste exposed their latest hoax designed to bash the Trump administration and stir up outrage among their donors.…
The problem is, as the Gateway Pundit previously reported, NIH hasn’t funded these cat experiments in Russia for three years since White Coat Waste first exposed it, and Republican lawmakers worked with them to cut the funding.
Through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, WCW uncovered years ago that the NIH was indeed sending U.S. dollars to the Pavlov Institute for cat mutilation experiments. Thankfully, their relentless campaign, backed by Republican leaders like @RepLisaMcClain and @SenJoniErnst, along with some Democrats, led to a complete defunding.
By 2023, all animal testing in Russian labs became ineligible for NIH grants, saving taxpayers millions and ending the abuse.
WCW’s Senior Vice President Justin Goodman publicly called out PETA on social media, noting that their “new” claims relied on outdated 2025 papers that used pre-2023 data and lacked evidence of ongoing funding.
Instead of issuing a correction or apology, PETA quietly tweaked its webpage on January 20 to cover its tracks.…
Its worth noting that PETA posted its fake Russian cat lab claim all over the internet but hasn’t once criticized its Fauci-loving friend NIH Deputy Director Nicole Kleinstreuer—who is the NIH’s ‘animal testing czar’—as she defends animal labs and allows tens of millions in new tax funding to flow to painful and deadly experiments on dogs, cats, primates and other animals and other countries (aside from Russia) around the world.”
This isn’t PETA’s first time running with fake news.…
In 2021, PETA falsely claimed “Trump did nothing to stop animal experimentation,” ignoring the administration’s historic steps working with WCW to stop some of the government’s worst animal testing abuses. They deleted their post after it was exposed as a lie…”
— White Coat Waste (@WhiteCoatWaste) February 3, 2026
Gateway Pundit previously highlighted a PETA tweet claiming President Donald Trump never did anything for lab animals or to stop animal experimentation.
That post was deleted after this outlet, and others, pointed out the Trump administration’s concrete actions ending certain federal experiments on dogs, cats, and monkeys, including NIH beagle lab closures and Navy testing bans that PETA itself had praised while often omitting any credit to the president.
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