One might say that Windsor Meat Co. BUTCHERED the joke, but no, no one should say that because saying that is even worse than what actually happened. The image you see above (and here) recently went viral, with views and comments in the tens of thousands. Thing is, the name of the comedian who wrote the joke is nowhere to be found. And that’s why Myq Kaplan is none too pleased. Well, that and the whole not being invited anywhere fun thing.
According to the Daily Dot, “After a photo of a vegan-mocking window display in a butcher shop popped up [online], it wasn’t long before people noticed the words had been lifted wholesale from standup comic Myq Kaplan, who uttered them as part of a Conan set in 2012,” as seen here around the four-minute mark:
Kaplan took to his blog to discuss the thievery:
They did this without crediting me, without permission, and without the context of it being told by a vegan; in fact, with the exact opposite context. You know how I could say I hate my family, but if YOU say you hate my family, I might chop you up and eat you, if I weren’t vegan? It’s like that. (Via)
The butcher shop later emailed Kaplan, apologizing for what happened:
“I manage a butcher shop in West Vancouver, Canada. Let me start by apologizing in the wake of the sign in our butcher shop that went viral last week. I wanted to let you know that I never meant any of this to happen. We regularly try to write funny signs for our customers and although it is normally original content I had stumbled upon a video clip of yours however I did not know your name at the time (something I did not find out until the picture got posted to reddit last week). In hindsight I should have made an effort to find out and ask for your permission to use the joke and in the very least credit you for something that we found amusing. It was not intended to be passed on in any other fashion than to give people the same laugh that you gave me. However this is not meant to be an excuse. Just a reason why all of this has happened. We harbour no ill will toward vegetarians or vegans but have a general love of food culture and comedy.
I read the post on your website about “chopping off your face”, (quotations are important I’ve learned) and you made me realise my mistake. For that I want to reiterate that it was an error in judgement and I hope you can accept my apology for use of your material. I think you are an incredibly talented comedian and a great performer. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.” (Via)
So there you go: everything’s resolved and no one got hurt. Except for hundreds of pigs and cows and…