PETA Ad Brings Bea Arthur Back From the Grave

[Brian Damage]

A new PETA ad aimed at shaming McDonald's into changing their chicken-slaughtering practices stars a familiar scowl -- one belonging to Bea Arthur. A 'Golden Girls'-era photo of the actress appears in the ad next to the jarring headline: "McCruelty. It's enough to make Bea Arthur roll over in her grave." Arthur died last April of cancer shortly before her 87th birthday.

Arthur was a long-time supporter of PETA when she was alive, and the ad states she left money to the animal right's group for their campaign against McDonald's. It begins: "Death couldn't stop this Golden Girl from fighting the Golden Arches' cruel slaughter practices."

The ad is running in Chicago newspapers on Thursday to reach the Illinois-based fast food company.

Dan Matthews, a PETA vice president, told the New York Times that he consulted with Matt Saks, Arthur's son, "who especially liked that the copy was in Bea's irreverent voice."

According to the ad, PETA is using the money Arthur gave "to pressure McDonald's to switch to a less violent, USDA-approved chicken-slaughter method" that they say would spare birds of broken legs and "being scalded to death in defeathering tanks."

The ad specifically calls out McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner, who has resisted changing slaughtering methods. It ends with a popular saying by Arthur's 'Maude' character: "God'll get you for that."

Arthur's 'Girls' co-star Rue McClanahan, another early PETA supporter out of Hollywood, has not yet been reached for comment.

http://www.popeater.com/2010/04/22/p...donalds-photo/