Billie Eilish responds to backlash over ‘hypocritical’ meat-eating comment

Billie Eilish has shared her firm reaction to backlash after being called out for her 'hypocritical' comment about ‘eating meat'.

It all started when the 24-year-old 'Ocean Eyes' singer was asked by ELLE in a recent interview (28 April): "What hill would you die on?"

"Y'all are not going to like me for this one... eating meat is inherently wrong," she replied, before adding: "And the other thing is, two things can not coincide: 'I love animals. I love all animals so much, and I eat meat.' You just can't do both, sorry."

Her comments quickly sparked a heated debate online, prompting Eilish to deliver another set of statements on the matter.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday (7 May), she shared a series of clips showing the atrocious treatment of animals in the meat and dairy industry, along with several text posts, the first of which read: "So stay f*cking mad at me."

Billie Eilish has shared her latest response to backlash over her comments regarding 'eating meat' (Instagram/@billieeilish)

"I really don't give a goddamn f*ck," Eilish continued.

Then then added in a lengthier Instagram Story post: "Go watch a documentary or two and some footage of what is done to the animals u claim to love and what it does to the planet u pretend to love as well.

"If that footage was hard for u to watch, I encourage u to pls take a look at urself. Like, I am so tired of standing up for/having empathy for living beings being controversial.

"Pls continue to live in a constant state of cognitive dissonance and denial and try to convince urself that ur not living a lie. Mwah."

The 24-year-old Grammy Award-winning singer took to Instagram to call out people living in 'denial' (Instagram/@billieeilish)

It didn't take long for keyboard warriors to rush to social media to share their outrage over Eilish's comments, with one Reddit user hitting out: "She uses Aquafore, and they test on animals; she also partners with Gucci and brands that use leather, so I don't get why she gets to pick and choose who's a good person and who isn't."

"Exactly this. Billie is just having a good old virtue signalling session," slammed a second. "She can’t spout the stuff she does about loving animals while actively promoting brands that participate in it. So many celebs try to promote themselves with this moral superiority, but they’re the biggest hypocrites."

Another chimed in: "That’s why it’s best for celebrities and public figures not to make such bold statements like this because it’s so easy to figure out if they’re being hypocritical."

And a fourth critic echoed: "Yep. That's the problem with stating things in absolutes - it's so easy to make yourself a hypocrite.

"According to her logic, you also can't love animals and then be the face for a company that uses leather, calfskin, alligator, python, lizard and silk."

Fans were divided over Eilish's comments (Robert Smith / Contributor / Getty Images)

Others, however, thought that Eilish was completely right in her statements.

"People are mad bc for the most part she’s right," defended one fan as a second agreed: "Thank you, I felt like I was going crazy. She is right? People heard 'you don't love animals if you eat meat' and went down all these rationalisation pathways trying to explain otherwise, simply because it offended them."

A third outlined: "I agreed with her, and it actually made me stop eating meat because the logic checks out, haha."

And a final fan confessed: "As a meat eater. She's right."