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PETA targets ‘Hunger Games’ star Jennifer Lawrence for squirrel-skinning

Alex Myers Contributor
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PETA just can’t take a joke.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is targeting “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence for her squirrel-skinning scene in “Winter’s Bone,” and the hunting scenes in her latest film.

For her Oscar-nominated role in 2010’s “Winter’s Bone,” Lawrence’s character is seen graphically skinning a squirrel in order to feed her poverty-stricken family.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Lawrence said of the scene, “I should say it wasn’t real, for PETA—but screw PETA.”

What the “animal-rights” organization doesn’t know is that when she was learning how to skin a squirrel before filming the scene, she ran away in tears because she couldn’t bear to finish watching, E! reports.

The squirrels used for “Winter’s Bone” were bought from a hunter near the filming location, so Lawrence is not actually killing a squirrel in the film — it’s just pure movie magic.

But Lawrence is also seen in the “Hunger Games” hunting animals so, PETA went on the offensive.

“She’s young and the plight of animals somehow hasn’t yet touched her heart,” PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement Tuesday, “When people kill animals, it is the animals who are ‘screwed,’ not PETA, and one day I hope she will try to make up for any pain she might cause any animal who did nothing but try to eke out a humble existence in nature.”

If Lawrence had to make the choice between taking leading roles in critically acclaimed, record-breaking films or hurting PETA’s feelings, it was clearly a very tough decision. So in the words of Jennifer Lawrence, “screw PETA.”

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