Chris Garnett, a 19-year-old member of PETA, is dedicated to his cause. He has legally changed his name to KentuckyFriedCrueltyDotCom to protest Kentucky Fried Chicken's treatment of birds at a processing plant.
The artist formerly known as Chris Garnett and currently known as KentuckyFriedCrueltyDotCom, joins Tucker Carlson to talk about his name change and how its affecting the fight for his cause and his progress with the ladies.
To read an excerpt from their conversation, continue to the text below. To watch the video, click on the "Launch" button to the right.
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, ‘SITUATION’: What do you go by?
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM, PETA STAFFER LEGALLY CHANGED NAME TO PROTEST KFC: Pretty much everyone still calls me Chris, some of the people at the office call me Ken or Tuck. But the funny thing about the name change is, regardless of what people call me, every time I go to pay for something, I show someone my ID, I'm able to tell them about how KFC is, you know, cutting the beaks off baby birds and how their workers are slamming chickens in a wall, kicking them like footballs and laughing about it. And people are pretty shocked to hear about this sort of thing.
CARLSON: Well, that sounds like a fun conversation starter. How does that go over when you're at The Gap buying a new pair of Dockers? I mean, does it help with the salesmen? Are they excited to hear about it?
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM: Yes, actually people are really supportive. They think it's odd at first. It definitely is. I mean, I did change my name to KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM, after all. But once I tell them what KFC exactly is doing, all the sorts of cruelties, they are shocked to hear about these sort of things. And they say they're going to go to the Web site and check it out and watch our undercover investigation footage and hopefully they join our boycott against KFC after watching it.
CARLSON: Well, I mean, I understand that you are committed to this cause, you're a PETA member, a PETA employee, apparently, but your name is central to who you are. Kind of a heavy step to give your entire identity over to a political cause or social cause, don't you think?
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM: Oh actually my mom thought it was pretty weird at first, too, because obviously she gave me my name, Chris Garnett. But after I showed her the Web site and she saw chickens living in these sheds, 10,000 at a time, literally living in their own filth, my mom was appalled, as most people are.
And so she's really supportive of it now. My mom is really cool, and she wishes me all the best. But I did have to promise her that I would change my name back to Chris Garnett once our campaign against KFC is over.
CARLSON: Yes, but why is it PETA the one group that seems to go to lengths like this? I mean, you don't see people changing their names to StoptheGenocideinRwanda.com, or TheHolocaustWasBad.com, I mean, two sentiments that are undeniably true and admirable and all that, but people don't change their names?
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM: Well, you know, PETA, you know, sometimes we do colorful things to get people's attention towards a more serious issue. And I came up with this idea. And I thought it would just be a great way to get some attention towards our KFC campaign and hopefully get more people to join our boycott against KFC.
CARLSON: I guess what I'm implying, KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM, is that PETA sounds a little cult-like. I mean, you're 19 and you changed your name. Were you abducted by PETA and are you being held against your will by them?
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM: No, not at all. Actually, you know, I came up with the idea myself. And it's just something that I wanted to do. I've always been very passionate about animal rights and I've always cared about animals. So I just thought this was a funny and interesting way to get, you know, like I said, attention towards a more serious issue and to get people to hopefully join our boycott.
CARLSON: Well, since you're 19, you're presumably also passionate about girls or dating in any case. How do the ladies like the new handle, like in bars and stuff? Hi, I'm KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM.
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM: My girlfriend Liz is actually really supportive. She thinks it's funny and she herself is an animal rights activist, and she thinks it's great. So she's very supportive of it.
CARLSON: Well, one of my producers just said in my ear that Pamela Anderson herself has said she likes your new name. So, I mean, you know, who am I to judge? Now what—I mean, you said you are going to change your name in the future. Are you thinking of going with, you know, Wal-MartIsBad.com, WendysSucks.com? What are future Web names you might call yourself?
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM: Well, actually, we had similar campaigns just like this against Wendy's, and they've improved their animal welfare standards.
CARLSON: I just made that up. I was joking. I was mocking you, and you said, actually, we thought of that at PETA.
KENTUCKYFRIEDCRUELTYDOTCOM: Yes, like I said, you know, we had a similar campaign and they improved their animal welfare standards. So now we're asking KFC to do the same thing. But like I said, I did have to promise my mom that, you know, once KFC eliminates the very worst abuses for these chickens, such as stop cutting the beaks off of these birds when they're days old, that she was—you know, I was going to have to change my name back to Chris Garnett again.