When “Joker” actor Joaquin Phoenix won the Academy Award for best actor this month, he used his acceptance speech to encourage viewers to stop consuming animal products. But a new video reveals just how serious the Oscar winner is about animal activism.
Less than a day after walking the red carpet, Phoenix was at a slaughterhouse with the animal rescue organization Farm Sanctuary, where he helped rescue a mother and her newborn calf.
Farm Sanctuary released a video Thursday of the rescue.
Newsweek reports that Phoenix was able to participate in the rescue after befriending Anthony Di Maria, the CEO of the Manning Beef slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera, California. Di Maria gave Phoenix the opportunity to take a mother and calf, who were otherwise set to be “harvested” — or, as Phoenix repeats in the video, “murdered.”
The mother-daughter cow duo were given the names Liberty and Indigo by workers at the Farm Sanctuary, where they have room to play and will not be separated like many cows and calves are, Yahoo! News reports. The Farm Sanctuary video ends with shots of Liberty and Indigo running in their new home filled with open spaces.
Phoenix told CNN he hopes being able to see Liberty and Indigo grow up at the Farm Sanctuary will remind people that kindness and compassion should supersede differences.
This isn’t the actor’s first post-award animal rescue, reports the Hollywood Reporter. After the SAG awards in January he joined activists at a vigil for slaughtered pigs — while still dressed in his suit from the ceremony.
Phoenix has also worked to convince event organizers at award ceremonies such as the Golden Globes and Oscars to convert to plant-based food menus, Vanity Fair reports.