William Shatner is talking turkey in a new PSA by State Farm that warns people to be careful while deep-frying their turkeys this Thanksgiving. In other news, PETA is asking the town of Turkey, Texas to change their name for the holidays to Tofurkey to help put an end to the needless slaughter of animals, but they are having none of it. Here’s the story…
God bless William Shatner for always being so full of himself, such an odd bird, and funny. The famous Star Trek actor who actually auctioned off his kidney stones to raise money for charity just came out with a public service announcement heading into the holiday season about… guess what? The art of deep-frying turkeys without hurting yourself, burning your house down, or ruining what could otherwise be a delicious holiday meal.
Time magazine reports, “Thanksgiving is just one week away, which means that you’ll soon be forced to make that annual trip to the grocery store to purchase a turkey. But if you’re thinking about deep-frying your bird this year, William Shatner has some advice for you. And he has put it in the form of this very odd public service announcement…”
Odd indeed. The public safety message about cooking real turkeys in a deep fryer was sponsored by State Farm insurance. You can check out his tweets about it by searching for the hashtag #shatnerfryersclub on Twitter.
In other strange thanksgiving news, the PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals) has been lobbying the town of Turkey, Texas to change their name to TOFURKEY for the week of Thanksgiving. While they believe that asking the town to do such a thing to encourage people to have tofu rather than a real turkey dinner for their holiday feast, the town members — all 421 of them — hate the idea.
All of the folks who have given interviews about the animal rights organization’s request say they are offended. Not only are they proud of their little town’s name, but all the people there collect turkey memorabilia. Kitchy, yes, but they seem to have wrapped their personal identities and patriotism in the idea that a fat turkey, dressed and stuffed and sitting on a table for a holiday meal, is (essentially) an iconic symbol of being American.
So, while pet friendly people, animal rights activists, vegans, and vegetarians all agree that Tofurkey is a great meat replacement to use for a holiday dinner with family and friends, it looks like the little town of Turkey won’t be joining celebrities like Ellen Degeneres or the folks from PETA in their quest to stop turkey farming, hunting, killing, and over-consuming of the animal that in the past symbolized the American family tradition started by the pilgrims with the help of Native American Indians.
To that end, Bill Shatner wants you to be careful while cooking the traditional bird using the trendy technique of deep-frying. As such, remember his words… fryer accidents can be dangerous (even lethal or burn your house down if you are not careful). So, watch the video below — then “Eat, fry, love.”