A debate between Sean Hannity and a PETA rep over the use of live animal mascots in sports quickly devolved into a fight over the host’s meat-eating habits. (Watch the video below.)
It was fun in a train wreck kind of way. But the exchange served neither the blowhard Fox News personality nor Ashley Byrne, a senior campaigner for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The host’s interruptions and premeditated effort to shove his meat-eating lifestyle in Byrne’s face got in the way.
As a veteran of interviews on the conservative channel, Byrne probably knew what she was getting into.
“Let me ask you this question,” Hannity said. “My diet consists of … basically I’m [on] a carnivore diet. A keto-friendly diet, which is eggs and meat. Do you have a problem with my diet?”
Replied Byrne: “You might have a problem with your diet eventually …”
“My bloods came back perfectly,” he interrupted.
“The meat and egg industries are very cruel to animals,” she added, as the two talked over each other.
“Do you have a problem with people like me eating meat?” Hannity asked.
“I have a problem with the meat industry forcing animals to live in their own waste,” Byrne said.
In another back and forth, Byrne said: “Animals should not be hung by their ankles and have their throats slashed to become a burger.”
Said Hannity: “I like that burger and I choose to eat it. … Would you outlaw me eating it?”
“You know, I think if people could see the way that animals suffer in slaughterhouses … they would never eat a burger again,” she said, trying to make a point amid the endless cross talk.
Under more interrogation, Byrne facetiously asked Hannity, “Should we outlaw cruelty to dogs?”
“I’m asking the question. I’m the host,” Hannity answered.
The focus of PETA’s college mascot argument was the Texas Longhorns’ actual longhorn steer, Bevo, but now that the team has been eliminated from the College Football Playoff, perhaps Hannity felt the need to pivot quickly to what he likes to eat.
Neither Notre Dame nor Ohio State, the CFP finalists in Monday’s championship game, has an animal for a mascot.