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‘The Notebook’ actor comes to bat for PETA, takes on slaughterhouses

Laura Donovan Contributor
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“Crazy Stupid Love” star Ryan Gosling has hopped on board with PETA to challenge the slaughterhouse euthanization process of turkeys and chickens.

The Canadian actor, who recently broke up a New York City fight between two guys, penned a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture on behalf of PETA in opposition to the USDA’s approved method of killing the birds. According to Us Weekly, the method is slow, painful and suffocates the birds in foam.

“If dogs and cats were killed in this way, the person committing these acts would be charged with cruelty to animals,” Gosling wrote. “Won’t you please end the foam-based suffocation practice immediately?”

The 30-year-old, who played a womanizing cad in this summer’s hit romantic comedy, “Crazy Stupid Love,” most recently made news for breaking up a New York City fight between an artist and citizen. While the video initially made the Canadian sex symbol look like a chivalrous hero, Gosling later told MTV News that he regretted intervening because he learned afterward that one of the men had stolen a painting from the other.

“I’m embarrassed. I think that guy really was stealing that other guy’s painting, so I should have just kept my nose out of it,” Gosling told the network. “It was sad, because it turns out that I said to the guy, ‘Why are you doing this?’ He said, ‘Well, he tried to steal my painting.’ I said, ‘How do you know?’ and he said, ‘Well, he comes here everyday and looks at my paintings,’ which means the guy was a fan, and so he wanted the painting so bad he had to steal it because he couldn’t afford it.”

Gosling, who portrayed every girl’s dream boyfriend in the 2004 drama “The Notebook,” expressed more humiliation over stepping into the altercation.

“So he finally steals the painting, and then he’s getting his ass kicked by his hero, and then the guy from ‘The Notebook’ shows up and makes it weirder. It’s just — the whole thing, nobody wins, nobody won,” Gosling said.

WATCH: Gosling addresses street fight

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