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Morrissey Out-PETAs McCartney With Meatless Staples Center Show

Morrissey Staples Center McDonald's Vegetarian PETA Paul McCartney

The Mighty Moz has been through quite a bit lately, so it’s perhaps time to throw the man a bone — erm, a tempeh stick. After canceling an unfortunate glut of gigs due to a bleeding ulcer, he has won a major victory for one of his few remaining shows: Los Angeles’ Staples Center arena is going completely vegetarian for Morrissey’s sold-out March 1 concert.

In addition to purging all “flesh as food” from its normal consessions outposts, the stadium will be shuttering its in-house McDonald’s for the night, as specifically requested by the former Smiths singer. Overall, this feat may be easier than it seems, as Staples, home to both the Clippers and the Lakers, was recently named PETA’s “most vegetarian-friendly” NBA venue.

While the 18,000-seat space already serves “vegan sloppy Joes, veggie burgers, vegan sushi, grilled veggie sandwiches, couscous salad with veggies” and more, as LAist writes, Morrissey’s announcement includes an interesting factoid: “This request had previously been denied Sir Paul McCartney,” who is a noted ally to PETA, though perhaps no longer their favorite son.

Macca also played Southern California’s Coachella in 2009 without raising a stink about the stink of sizzling meat during his set, while Moz famously walked off-stage that same year because he could “smell burning flesh” being cooked. Festival promoters Goldenvoice later offered him an entirely meatless Coachella if he’d headline with a reunited Smiths — denied.

Staples Center is jointly owned by AEG and Goldenvoice, and will be donating a portion of ticket sales to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “I don’t look upon it as a victory for me,” said Morrissey via statement, “but a victory for the animals.” But secretly he’s probably pretty stoked that he managed to punk both Sir Paul and McDonald’s in one fell swoop.