Joey Carbstrong is urging the singer to embrace a vegan Christmas

Ed Sheeran has been urged to research the brutal reality behind pigs in blankets – Media Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

An animal rights activist is urging Ed Sheeran to watch documentary Pignorant after he discussed plans to eat pig meat this Christmas.

Joey Carbstrong, the creator of Pignorant, took to Instagram to share a video of Sheeran speaking about his festive menu. The Shape of You singer said his Christmas dinner plate features “all the stuff,” including “pigs in blankets, turkey, and stuffing.”

Responding to his words, Carbstrong said: “you’re a fantastic artist, love a bit of Ed Sheeran. But I don’t love animal cruelty and torture…”

The reality of pigs in blankets

Pigs in blankets refer to pork sausages wrapped in bacon. They are a popular festive menu item, and around 668 million of them are eaten at Christmas time in the UK. In his video, Carbstrong described the brutal reality behind them. He said that the sausage is likely made from the minced flesh of an “exploited mother pig, who was pushing out piglet after piglet in a farrowing crate.” Carbstrong goes on to explain that she was likely killed using CO2 gas. According to experts, being exposed to this gas is comparable to being “burnt from the inside out.” Around 88 percent of UK pigs are killed using this method.

The bacon, said Carbstrong, may have come from one of the mother pig’s babies, most of whom are raised as “meat producers” and slaughtered with gas at six months old.

Carbstrong went on to say that he’s sure Sheeran “isn’t a bad guy,” but urged him to watch Pignorant to learn about the reality of UK pig farming. “Ed, you’ve got a lot of accountability, responsibility,” he added. In addition to Carbstrong’s video, many Instagram users flooded the comment section of one of Sheeran’s posts asking him to watch the documentary.

About ‘Pignorant’

Amazon PrimeJoey Carbstrong’s film ‘Pignorant’ is available to watch online
Pignorant is a documentary film that follows Carbstrong, a former gang member turned animal advocate, as he embarks on a dangerous mission to uncover the hidden truths of the UK’s pork industry.

As part of the film, Carbstrong visited both factory and so-called “high welfare” farms, finding suffering at each that he visited. He also produced the first ever footage of pigs being gassed to death in the UK. The pigs were seen shrieking, gasping, and writhing in apparent distress.

“The industry’s motivation for gassing has everything to do with the fact they can kill as many pigs as possible, for a lower cost,” Carbstrong previously told Plant Based News. “CO2 has been proven in study after study to be fear-inducing, painful and distressing. The NPA [National Pig Association] of course will downplay the horrors of CO2, but now the footage can speak for itself.”