Amid spread of omicron variant, CDC expected to require negative COVID-19 test 1 day before flying to US

Amid spread of omicron variant, CDC expected to require negative COVID-19 test 1 day before flying to US
Amid spread of omicron variant, CDC expected to require negative COVID-19 test 1 day before flying to US
ronstik/iStock

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is preparing to implement new travel guidelines that would require proof of a negative COVID-19 test within one day of flying into the U.S., including for vaccinated people, a spokesperson from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed.

The expected change comes as the country beefs up surveillance for the omicron variant, the first case of which in the U.S. has been identified in California, the California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health said Wednesday. The CDC said the person traveled from South Africa on Nov. 22.

Omicron has been deemed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization and had been detected in over 20 countries as of Tuesday.

“CDC is working to modify the current global testing order for travel as we learn more about the omicron variant; a revised order would shorten the timeline for required testing for all international air travelers to one day before departure to the United States,” CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund said Tuesday night. “This strengthens already robust protocols in place for international travel, including requirements for foreign travelers to be fully vaccinated.”

Under the current guidelines, people from other countries who are not fully vaccinated cannot travel to the U.S., while people who are fully vaccinated can as long as they provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within three days of traveling. For unvaccinated Americans, the guidelines already required proof of a negative test within one day of traveling. The potential new rule would expand that one-day requirement to all vaccinated travelers coming into the U.S. from other countries.

For post-travel recommendations, the CDC also suggests vaccinated travelers get tested three to five days after arriving in the U.S. and that unvaccinated travelers stay home to self-quarantine for a full seven days, even if they test negative during that timeframe.

Earlier on Tuesday, the White House confirmed it was considering updates around testing requirements and said policy discussions were ongoing across the government as more is learned about the omicron variant.

More updates on the country’s response to the variant are expected Thursday.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky outlined some of the expected changes at the White House COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday morning. She said the CDC is analyzing 80,000 COVID-positive tests per week — or about one in seven tests — looking for the omicron variant. The delta variant continues to account for 99.9% of all tests analyzed, Walensky said.

Asked if she was confident in the CDC’s surveillance system given how many other countries had detected the variant before the U.S., Walensky said the system is “robust.”

The director also said the CDC is working on expanding a surveillance program in the nation’s four busiest international airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which would allow for more COVID-19 tests on international arrivals — though there was no indication that testing would be mandatory for arriving travelers or which arriving planes would be offered the tests.

In the meantime, experts are calling on all Americans to get vaccinated if they haven’t yet and to get boosted if they’re over 18 and were fully vaccinated over six months ago. Of those eligible for a booster, 100 million Americans haven’t gotten one yet, the White House said on Tuesday, while just about 20% of fully vaccinated Americans have, the CDC’s vaccine data shows.

Though the data on how transmissible and severe the omicron variant is will not be available for a few more weeks, as scientists around the globe work to gather it, experts believe it’s unlikely it will completely chip away at the protection from vaccines and boosters, particularly when it comes to hospitalization and death.

“Remember, as with other variants, although partial immune escape may occur, vaccines and particularly boosters give a level of antibody that even with variants like delta, give you a degree of protection, particularly against severe disease,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Pfizer BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to consider expanding the booster recommendation to include 16- and 17-year-olds. The agency is expected to review the request in the coming weeks.

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Muslim members of Congress condemn Islamophobia after bigoted remarks

Muslim members of Congress condemn Islamophobia after bigoted remarks
Muslim members of Congress condemn Islamophobia after bigoted remarks
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Andre Carson on Tuesday night forcefully condemned the anti-Muslim remarks made by their colleague, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, last week.

Omar, Tlaib, and Carson are the only three Muslims in Congress.

“We may only be three among hundreds serving in Congress, but we are strong advocates that won’t shy away in demanding better for our communities. No one deserves to feel hate or racism solely based on one’s faith. It’s completely unacceptable,” Tlaib said.

A shaken Omar spoke of her difficult experiences as a Muslim American — from the person who told her she would never be elected to Congress for wearing a hijab, to the bigoted reception she received from some Republican members when she was first elected.

“So, when a sitting member of Congress calls a colleague a member of the “jihad squad” and falsifies a story to suggest that I will blow up the Capitol, it is not just attack on me, but on millions of American Muslims across this country,” Omar said of Boebert.

In a video posted to Twitter last week, Boebert referred to Omar as a member of the “Jihad Squad” and claimed that a Capitol Police officer thought she was a terrorist in an encounter in an elevator on Capitol Hill.

She apologized on Twitter Friday “to anyone in the Muslim community I offended,” adding that she had reached out to Omar’s office to speak with her directly, but the phone call did not go well.

Omar hung up on Boebert after the Colorado Republican refused to make a public apology to her, according to a statement from Omar and Boebert’s account of the call.

“We cannot pretend that this hate speech from leading politicians doesn’t have real consequences,” Omar said Tuesday. “The truth is that anti-Muslim hate is on the rise both here at home and around the world.”

Omar said she has received “hundreds” of death threats often triggered by Republican attacks. She held up her phone to the mics and played out a disturbingly graphic voicemail she received just hours after she got off the phone with Boebert on Monday — highlighting the types of threats she receives.

“Condemning this should not be a partisan issue,” Omar said. “This is about our basic humanity and fundamental rights of religious freedom enshrined in our Constitution. Yet, while some members of the Republican Party have condemned this, to date, the Republican Party leadership has done nothing to hold their members accountable.”

Omar said she wants “appropriate action” taken against Boebert but will leave it to leadership to decide what that means. She did not seem keen on the idea of a resolution that would condemn Islamophobia, noting that it’s been done before.

“This kind of hateful rhetoric and actions cannot go without punishment. There has to be accountability,” she said.

A senior Democratic aide confirmed to ABC News that House leadership discussed a possible resolution condemning Islamophobia but didn’t make any decisions during a meeting Tuesday night.

“Rep. Boebert has directed hateful, racist rhetoric against my colleague and friend, Rep. Omar,” Rep. Carson said. “Her verbal abuse was incendiary and hurtful to her and Muslims across the country and the world.”

“This is not about hurt feelings or mean-spirited words. This is about calling out individuals who deliberately incite violence and irresponsibly spread lies and misinformation,” Carson added.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who is not Muslim, also stood in solidarity with Omar, Tlaib and Carson during the press conference and called on Boebert to be removed from her committees.

“I’m urging House leadership to hold Lauren Boebert accountable by removing her from her committee assignments, advancing a resolution of condemnation, and taking all other appropriate measures to ensure our message that Islamophobia, anti-Blackness, and xenophobia will not stand is loud and clear,” he said in a statement.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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Conservative Supreme Court majority appears inclined to scale back abortion rights

Conservative Supreme Court majority appears inclined to scale back abortion rights
Conservative Supreme Court majority appears inclined to scale back abortion rights
YinYang/iStock

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard historic arguments over a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with conservative justices openly raising the prospect of overturning decades of legal precedent since the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

After almost two hours, the conservative majority appeared headed toward changing 30 years of settled law protecting a woman’s right to end a pregnancy before fetal viability and upholding the Mississippi ban, which legal scholars say could clear the way for stringent new restrictions on abortion in roughly half the country.

“Viability it seems to me has nothing to do with choice,” said Chief Justice John Roberts. “Why is 15 weeks not enough time?”

“That’s not a dramatic departure from viability,” Roberts added of the state law and the line it would draw.

Since the 1973 landmark Roe ruling and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case that affirmed the decision, the court has never allowed states to prohibit the termination of pregnancies prior to fetal viability outside the womb, roughly 24 weeks, according to medical experts.

Mississippi argues Roe was wrongly decided and that each state should be allowed to set its own policy.

Scott Stewart, the solicitor general of Mississippi and a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, spoke first, saying that the precedents the Supreme Court set with Roe and Casey in 1992 “damaged the democratic process” and “poisoned the law,” adding, “they’ve choked off compromise.”

“For 50 years they’ve kept this court at the center of a political battle that it can never resolve,” he said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned whether the court should have taken up the case since the legal right to an abortion based on viability has been a long-standing precedent.

“There has been some difference of opinion with respect to undue burden, but the right of the woman to choose, the right to control her own body has been fairly set since Casey and never challenged. You want us to reject that viability line and adopt something different,” she said. “Thirty (justices) since Casey have reaffirmed the basic viability line. Four have said no to the members of this court, but 15 justices have said yes or varying political backgrounds.”

Referring to comments from a Mississippi lawmaker, she said, “The Senate sponsor said we’re doing it because we have new justices on the Supreme Court,” noting the new makeup of the court with three conservative justice appointed by former President Donald Trump.

“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” she asked.

Justice Stephen Breyer stressed the importance of stare decisis — the legal principle that courts generally adhere to precedent.

“To overrule under fire in the absence of the most compelling reason to reexamine a watershed decision would subvert the court’s legitimacy beyond any serious question,” Breyer said.

Jackson Women’s Health and its allies say the high court’s protection of a woman’s right to choose the procedure is clear, well-established and should be respected.

But the current court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, is widely considered more sympathetic to abortion rights opponents than any in a generation.

Conservative justices homed in on the current viability standard of roughly 24 weeks, with Justice Samuel Alito describing the line set as “arbitrary.”

As Julie Rikelman of the Center for Reproductive Rights, representing Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, argued the impact of pregnancy, Alito responded, “If a woman wants to be free of the burdens of pregnancy, that interest does not disappear the moment the viability line is crossed,” adding, “The fetus has an interest in having a life, and that doesn’t change from the point before viability and after viability.”

When Justice Thomas asked her to identify the constitutional right at issue — whether to abortion, privacy or autonomy, Rikelman replied, “It’s liberty.”

“It’s the textual protection in the 14th Amendment that the state can’t deny someone liberty without the due process of law,” she said.

“Allowing a state to take control of a woman’s body and force her to undergo the physical demands for risks and life-altering consequences pregnancy is a fundamental deprivation for liberty, and once the court recognizes that liberty interest deserves heightened protection, it does need to draw a workable line of viability that logically balances the interests at stake,” Rikelman added.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked if the court’s decisions in Roe and Casey were wrong to begin with, how that would counter the stare decisis principle.

“The Constitution is neither pro-life nor pro-choice on abortion. If we think that the prior precedents are seriously wrong, why don’t we return to neutrality? Doesn’t the history of this court’s practice with respect to those cases tells us that the right answer is actually a return to the position of neutrality, and not stick with those precedents in the same way that all those other cases did?”

Later, Kavanaugh asked Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, arguing the Biden administration’s support for abortion providers, “Why should this court be the arbiter rather than Congress?”

“There’ll be different answers in Mississippi in New York, different answers and Alabama than California because they’re two different interests at stake and the people in those states might value those interests somewhat different way,” Kavanaugh said, signaling he might support handing the issue back to the states, despite saying at his confirmation hearings that Roe was “settled law.”

Prelogar replied that it’s not up to states to decide whether to honor fundamental rights.

A former clerk to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Elena Kagan, Prelogar earlier said, “The court has never revoked a right that is so fundamental to so many Americans and so central to their ability to participate fully and equally in society. The court should not overrule the central component of women’s liberty.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who’s personal views on abortion factored large during her confirmation hearing last year, raised doubts about how sweeping the impact would be if the court sides with Mississippi. “Don’t Safe Haven Laws take care of that?” she said, referring to legislation in nearly every state allowing a parent to abandon a newborn baby without fear of prosecution in the event life circumstances make them unable to parent.

Majorities of Americans support the Supreme Court upholding Roe v. Wade and oppose states making it harder for abortion clinics to operate, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll this month. Three in four Americans, including majorities of Republicans, independents and Democrats, say the decision of whether or not to have an abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor.

But Americans appear more sharply divided on the type of ban at issue in Mississippi. A Marquette University Law School poll this month found 37% favored upholding a 15-week ban, with 32% opposed.

Overshadowing the case is the Supreme Court’s still-pending decision in a separate dispute over Texas’ unprecedented six-week abortion ban, SB8, which has been in effect for nearly three months and dominated national headlines.

The justices gave the Texas law a highly expedited hearing, during which a majority appeared skeptical of its enforcement scheme that encourages citizens to sue anyone who aids or abets an unlawful abortion for the chance at a $10,000 bounty. Many observers assumed the court would quickly move to put the law on hold, but it has not done so.

A decision in the Mississippi and Texas cases are expected by the end of the court’s term in June 2022.

The abortion rights battle at the Supreme Court comes as Republican-led states have enacted more than 100 new abortion restrictions so far this year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.

Twenty-one states have laws in place that would quickly impose abortion bans in the event the Supreme Court overturns Roe.

Fourteen states plus Washington, D.C., have laws explicitly protecting access to abortion care, according to Guttmacher.

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New Neil Young & Crazy Horse documentary ‘Barn’ to be screened in select theaters next week

New Neil Young & Crazy Horse documentary ‘Barn’ to be screened in select theaters next week
New Neil Young & Crazy Horse documentary ‘Barn’ to be screened in select theaters next week
Reprise Records

New details have been announced about the release of the previously reported behind-the-scenes documentary film Barn, capturing the making of Neil Young & Crazy Horse‘s upcoming album of the same name, which is due out Friday, December 10.

In addition to the movie being released as part of the deluxe edition of Barn and as a standalone Blu-ray, as previously announced, the film also will be screened in select U.S. theaters on December 9 and in Toronto on December 11.

The Barn documentary also will premiere exclusively on-demand via the AARP Members Only Access service on December 10 and will be available through January 10. Barn also will be screened on AARP’s Music for Grownups platform on December 17.

The Barn film, which was directed by Young’s wife, actress Daryl Hannah — aka “dhlovelife” — offers an intimate look at Neil and the current Crazy Horse lineup working on the album in 19th-century log barn in Colorado’ Rocky Mountains during the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year. Most of the album was recorded live.

A video for one of the songs, “Heading West,” premiered on Young’s official YouTube channel this week, and the track will be made available as the third advance digital single from the album this Friday, December 3.

Barn, which you can pre-order now, is a 10-track collection that will be available on CD, vinyl, cassette and digital formats, and as a deluxe box set. The box set includes a CD and a vinyl LP, as well as the aforementioned Blu-ray featuring the Barn film.

Here’s the list of scheduled theatrical screenings:

12/9 — Chicago, IL, Landmark Century Centre Cinema
12/9 — Santa Monica, CA, Laemmle at the Monica Film Center
12/9 — New York, NY, IFC Center
12/11 — Toronto, ON, Canada, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

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Cardi B is first female rapper to score two Diamond-certified songs with Maroon 5 collab “Girls Like You”

Cardi B is first female rapper to score two Diamond-certified songs with Maroon 5 collab “Girls Like You”
Cardi B is first female rapper to score two Diamond-certified songs with Maroon 5 collab “Girls Like You”
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Cardi B says several times in her Grammy-nominated hit “I Like It” that she likes her diamonds and she just added another rock to her collection.  

“Girls Like You,” Cardi’s collab with Maroon 5, crossed over into the realm of RIAA Diamond-certified songs, meaning it has sold over 10 million copies.  This is Cardi’s and the band’s second Diamond-certification.

The 29-year-old has now made history as the first female rapper to score two Diamond-certified tracks.  Cardi previously snagged the honor with her breakout single “Bodak Yellow.”

She took to Twitter to celebrate making history, tweeting out, “Wow I got two Diamond records! Thank you sooo much @maroon5 for including me on this song and this is the song I cater to my daughter every time I perform it. I’m forever grateful.”

The band celebrated the new achievement on Instagram, writing, “Girls Like You ft. Cardi B has been RIAA certified 10x Multi-Platinum!”

“Girls Like You,” released in 2018, spent seven weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and was one of the top-selling songs of the year. Its music video — which featured Gal GadotEllen DeGeneresCamila CabelloAly RaismanTiffany HaddishJennifer LopezMary J. Blige and many other famous women — has amassed over three billion views on YouTube.

 

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Sting says he still misses George Michael: “We should have helped him more”

Sting says he still misses George Michael: “We should have helped him more”
Sting says he still misses George Michael: “We should have helped him more”
Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

Later this month, we’ll mark the fifth anniversary of the tragic death of George Michael, who passed way on Christmas Day 2016 at the age of 53.  Now, one of his famous friends is expressing regret at not doing enough to prevent his death.

Speaking with Apple Music, Sting tells Zane Lowe of his late pal, “You wonder where that immense talent would’ve developed. What would he be doing now? And it’s with such sadness that I think of George, because he had such potential and died far too young.”

Sting adds, “And he was a lovely, lovely man. I just miss him. I just miss him. I wish we could have helped him more. I think he was lonely and we should have helped him more.”

Sting and George were both huge pop stars in the ’80s, and sang together on the Band Aid single “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” Over the years, they collaborated onstage, and George covered Sting’s classic Police hit “Roxanne” on his 1999 album Songs from the Last Century.

In 2017, Sting dedicated his song “Fragile” to George and two other icons who left us too early: David Bowie and Prince.

Speaking about his friendships with other artists, Sting told Lowe that many of them came about thanks to the massive charity events that were so popular in the ’80s.

“Events like Live Aid or the Amnesty Tour forced us to share space, to share dressing rooms, to share the stage, to share the limelight, to share airplane journeys together,” he explains. “And some of those friendships that were forged then — for example, Peter Gabriel, Bruce SpringsteenTracy Chapman — those friendships are solid to this day because of that. We recognized our own situation in those other people. We didn’t feel isolated.”

 

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John Mellencamp, Paul Williams, Josh Klinghoffer donate items to ASCAP Foundation holiday auction

John Mellencamp, Paul Williams, Josh Klinghoffer donate items to ASCAP Foundation holiday auction
John Mellencamp, Paul Williams, Josh Klinghoffer donate items to ASCAP Foundation holiday auction
The ASCAP Foundation

John Mellencamp, famed pop songwriter Paul Williams and ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer are among the artists who have contributed items to a silent holiday auction benefiting The ASCAP Foundation, which supports music education and talent-development programs for music creators.

Mellencamp has donated a signed Jasmine acoustic guitar to the sale that has an estimated value of $2,500.

Williams, who has co-written such memorable tunes as Barbra Streisand‘s “Evergreen,” The Carpenters‘ “We’ve Only Just Begun” and the Muppets classic “Rainbow Connection,” is contributing a handwritten and signed lyric sheet to the song of the winning bidder’s choice. The document is also estimated to be worth $2,500.

Klinghoffer, who’s currently a member of Pearl Jam‘s touring band, has donated a 45-minute virtual guitar lesson to the auction that’s valued at $5,000.

Other artists who have donated items to the sale include alternative-pop superstar Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS, R&B artist Ne-Yo, rapper Lil Baby and country stars Chris Stapleton and Old Dominion.

Check out all the items at CharityBuzz.com.

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Daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi join Beyoncé in Ivy Park trailer

Daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi join Beyoncé in Ivy Park trailer
Daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi join Beyoncé in Ivy Park trailer
Adidas x IVY PARK

Beyoncé is decking the halls with boughs of ivy for the holidays as she appears in matching houndstooth ensembles with her daughters, Blue Ivy, 9, and Rumi, 4, in the new Ivy Park trailer.

Set in a prestigious private school, the clip promoting Queen Bey‘s line of stylish activewear features more celebrity children. Natalia Bryant, daughter of the late Kobe Bryant, wears a blazer jacket. Reese Witherspoon’s kids are also featured as Ava Phillippe reads in a lawn chair while her brother, Deacon, plays a game of table tennis.

Brooklyn Nets basketball star James Harden also makes an appearance, sitting at the chairman’s desk twirling a basketball.

The new Ivy Park collection, in collaboration with Adidas, is set to drop on Thursday, December 9 at 2:00 p.m. local time.

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Alec Baldwin exclusive: “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger”

Alec Baldwin exclusive: “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger”
Alec Baldwin exclusive: “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger”
ABC

Actor Alec Baldwin told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that he had “no idea” how a live bullet got onto the set of his film Rust, but that he “didn’t pull the trigger” on the firearm that killed one person and wounded another.

“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” Baldwin told Stephanopoulos in a first-look segment from the upcoming interview, which is produced by George Stephanopoulos Productions. 

Alec Baldwin Unscripted will air this Thursday, December 2, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and will begin streaming on Hulu later that evening.

“Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property,” the actor added.

On October 21, Baldwin was holding an antique revolver during a dress rehearsal for the Western film at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico, when it discharged, killing the movie’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding its director, Joel Souza.

In the exclusive ABC News interview, Baldwin, who was starring in and co-produced the film, talked about what happened on set that fateful day, saying he had no reason to suspect a live bullet could be in the prop gun.

He also talked with Stephanopoulos about Hutchins, 42, who was struck in the chest and died after being airlifted to a hospital.

“I think back and I think of what could I have done?” Baldwin said.

“She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with [her] and liked by everyone who worked with [her], and admired,” Alec noted. “I mean, even now I find it hard to believe that [she’s gone]. It doesn’t seem real to me.”

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Billie Eilish becomes PETA’s youngest ever “Person of the Year”

Billie Eilish becomes PETA’s youngest ever “Person of the Year”
Billie Eilish becomes PETA’s youngest ever “Person of the Year”
Kevin Mazur/MG21/Getty Images For The Met Museum/Vogue

The honors keep coming for Billie Eilish.  A week after she was nominated for seven Grammy Awards, PETA announced she is their youngest-ever recipient of their “Person of the Year” award.

The animal advocacy group praised the outspoken 19-year-old vegan for using her platform to educate fans on animal cruelty within the makeup and fashion industry.  PETA also lauded Billie for convincing luxury brand Oscar de la Renta to permanently swear off fur.  She made that her one condition, which the company agreed to, before wearing their blush pink gown to the Met Gala.

That’s not the only impact the “Happier Than Ever” singer had in the fashion industry.  When partnering with Nike for her Air Jordan shoe collection, she created sneakers that were made out of “100% vegan leather with over 20% recycled material,” which Billie promoted on Instagram.  The Grammy winner also released a perfume, Eilish, which doesn’t use any animal byproducts and wasn’t tested on animals.

The organization also praised Billie for promoting sustainable meals and encouraging followers to take a hard look at how their diet harms animals.

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a Wednesday press release that the organization “is happier than ever to celebrate her for seizing every opportunity to point out that vegan fashion and foods are kinder to the animals and the planet we share with them.”

 

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