Russell Simmons Asks Followers to Give Up Meat, Connects It to COVID-19

Russell Simmons, hip-hop mogul, long-time vegan and animal rights activist, has gone on Instagram and urged his 1.5 million followers to give up eating meat. He links the onset of the pandemic to the fact that humans eat meat.

While we respect all views and of course Simmons' choices to eschew all animal products and advocate for animal welfare, this may not be the moment to lay blame. People are sick and dying who don't eat meat, and the virus that some people believeve started at a meat market in China has crossed the globe and affected innocents including old people, children, vegans and carnivores alike.

The Daily News covered the story here. Simmons took to Instagram on Monday to tell his  “COVID-19 was caused by eating animals” and ‘COVID-19 would not exist if the world was vegan.”

The full caption reads:

"I know people don’t want to read this And it’s tough to digest ........ But this statement is factual and necessary Eating animals is horrible unconscious behavior... Even as I catch up on the debate I see the talk of climate change with both candidates ignoring the elephant in the room How can they discuss climate change w/out discussing the emissions from the animals? FACT...The cause of this virus, the #1 cause of cancer, and CLIMATE change is the abuse and eating of animals PLEASE STOP EATING ANIMALS I am aware that there is a fine line between saying things that people hear and things that bounce off of them.. I hope this message is taken with the love that it is delivered with."

While we love his message of "meditate and find happiness in the moment," this message seems unnecessarily divisive in this moment where we need to unite to defeat this pandemic.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.