Biography:That Vegan Teacher

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Short description: Canadian internet personality (born 1964)

Kadie Karen Diekmeyer
Born (1964-09-24) September 24, 1964 (age 60)
Montreal , Quebec, Canada
Other names
  • Miss Kadie
  • Miss Karen
  • Vegan Teacher Karen
Alma materConcordia University
Occupation
  • Internet personality
  • animal rights activist
Years active2018–present
Spouse(s)
  • Dave Hobson
    (m. 1988; div. 2021)
  • Giorgio Benetti (m. 2021)
Children3
YouTube information
Channels
Genre
Subscribers
  • 227 thousand (That Vegan Teacher)
  • 24.7 thousand (Miss Karen English Teacher)
Total views
  • 84.4 million (That Vegan Teacher)
  • 2.7 million (Miss Karen English Teacher)
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg 100,000 subscribers 2021
Updated January 4, 2024

Kadie Karen Diekmeyer (born September 24, 1964), popularly known as That Vegan Teacher, is a Canadian animal rights activist, internet personality and former educator, mainly known for promoting veganism. Before she started her online career, Diekmeyer was a nurse and later an ESL teacher but eventually left the latter job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Diekmeyer is known for her TikTok and YouTube accounts that promote veganism. Diekmeyer's content has been controversial, prompting accusations of racism and homophobia.

Early life

Diekmeyer was born on September 24, 1964, in Montreal ,[1] and is of German and Swiss descent.[2] Diekmeyer worked as a registered nurse at the Lakeshore General Hospital for 25 years,[3][2] and attended Concordia University to become an ESL teacher in French Canadian schools for nine years. She worked both jobs before dropping her nursing career to work full time in the school system and eventually leaving her job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.[4][5]

Career

In 1995 Diekmeyer composed the nationalistic English-French folk song "Imaginez un Pays/Imagine a Country" and performed at the Unity Rally at the Place du Canada. She spoke of her anxiety before her public performance, which she had never done before, and got help from her friends and relatives to write the French lyrics.[3] Cheryl Cornacchia of the Montreal Gazette called her "one of the dozens of do-it-yourself artists making a place for themselves in Montreal".[6] As of 1999, Diekmeyer had written 47 songs, mainly about life and women's empowerment.[6]

Diekmeyer is known for her TikTok and YouTube career of promoting veganism.[7][8] She went viral on TikTok for a song called, "Eating Animals is Wrong, McDonald's", in July 2020.[9] Some of Diekmeyer's content has been characterized as racist and homophobic,[10][11] including the repurposing of the slogan of "I can't breathe" for a song expressing opposition to animal agriculture, as well as arguing that coming out as LGBT is a selfish act as opposed to doing so as vegan.[10][11] Diekmeyer has also drawn criticism for comparing the animal agriculture industry to the Holocaust.[10][9][12] In September 2020, she was criticized for saying she would no longer sign her organ donor card, "not [wanting] to donate [her] organs to meat eaters after [she] dies".[13][14]

"With all the talk about how animals should be treated lately, my kids and I took a long look at our dog and decided not to eat any more meat. Here's an idea for a new law: before pet owners are allowed to eat cows, pigs, chickens, lambs or fish, they should first have to kill and eat an animal. In the scheme of things, what makes one animal more worthy of a life of love and safety than other?"

—Diekmeyer's open letter, 2004[15]

In March 2021, she made a YouTube video, titled "Are You Racist?", in which she spelled out the word "nigger" in an acrostic poem and encouraged people to "ban cruelty instead of words."[8] Another controversy arose in result of Diekmeyer's comment on a 2021 TikTok video by gaming YouTuber TommyInnit, where he talked about his YouTube Play Button. Using TikTok's stitch function, she responded, "Tommy! The nice vegan girls don't want to see your buttons, but if you want them to play with your buttons, you're going to have to show them your fruits and your vegetables," while taking out a cucumber, pear, and apple. This sexual joke enraged people online, owing to TommyInnit's age, then 16. Diekmeyer defended herself, claiming she "had no idea who he was," and that [at his age], he was considered a "college-age student" in Canada.[9][16] Later that year, she was IP banned from TikTok after being mass-reported for breaching community guidelines, though the exact cause was unknown.[10] Diekmeyer posted a video on her YouTube page, promising to not give up on her platform.[10][17] She has made more TikTok accounts but ended up with most of them being banned.[18]

Personal life and views

Diekmeyer is bisexual.[19]

Diekmeyer speaks English and French.[3] A vegan since June 27, 2016,[1] she condemns what she considers to be vegaphobia.[20] Her open letter, "Dog persuaded them to give up meat", censuring cruelty to animals, was published in the Montreal Gazette in 2004.[21] She has three children with her first husband.[6][3] She remarried on December 4, 2021, following a courtship of nine and a half years.[1]

Diekmeyer has also voiced negative views on circumcision, calling it child abuse.[22]

In April 2023, Diekmeyer moved to Italy.[23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Diekmeyer, Kadie Karen (5 December 2021). Finally! After 9 1/2 Years! (video). YouTube. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2022.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Diekmeyer, Kadie Karen (2 March 2021). Ep.2 - Ethan Trace is a Disgrace (video). YouTube. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Carroll, Ann (24 October 1996). "Songstress spreads unity". Montreal Gazette: p. 111. https://archive.org/details/the-gazette-thu-oct-24-1996. 
  4. ↑ Diekmeyer, Kadie Karen (10 September 2021). @Mic the Vegan vs @SSSniperWolf (video). YouTube. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  5. ↑ Williams, Janice (22 January 2021). "Who Is the Infamous Vegan Teacher TikToker Behind Gordon Ramsay's Video?". Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/who-infamous-vegan-teacher-tiktoker-behind-gordon-ramseys-video-1563834. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Cornacchia, Cheryl (15 February 1999). "Do-it-yourself artists". Montreal Gazette: p. 57. https://archive.org/details/the-gazette-mon-feb-15-1999/mode/1up. 
  7. ↑ Lee, Bryan (5 February 2021). "Opinion: The Vegan Teacher Controversy". The Jag Journal. https://segerstromjagjournal.com/1603/op-ed/opinion/opinion-the-vegan-teacher-controversy/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Bonfiglio, Nahila (4 March 2021). "That Vegan Teacher spells out N-word in video urging people to 'ban cruelty, not words'". https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/that-vegan-teacher-n-word-video/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Asarch, Steven (24 February 2021). "A TikTok animal rights activist was banned from the app days after making a sexual joke about a 16-year-old YouTuber". https://www.insider.com/that-vegan-teacher-banned-tiktok-going-to-stop-2021-2. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Kiley, Rachel (23 February 2021). "TikTok bans That Vegan Teacher after homophobic, racist videos". https://www.dailydot.com/irl/that-vegan-teacher-banned-tiktok/. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Kiley, Rachel (26 January 2021). "Popular TikTok vegan co-opts 'I can't breathe' to protest animal cruelty". https://www.dailydot.com/irl/that-vegan-teacher-racism-homophobia/. 
  12. ↑ Muñoz, Rowan (30 September 2021). "Opinion: That Vegan Teacher's Swan Song". The Cougar Press. https://thecougarpress.org/10638/opinion/opinion-that-vegan-teachers-swan-song/. 
  13. ↑ Digital Staff (14 September 2020). "Vegan activist blasted for saying she would not donate organs to meat eaters". 7NEWS. https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-show/vegan-activist-blasted-for-saying-she-would-not-donate-organs-to-meat-eaters-c-1315745. 
  14. ↑ Chiorando, Maria (14 September 2020). "Vegan TikTok Star Blasted For Refusing To Donate Organs To Meat Eaters". https://plantbasednews.org/opinion/vegan-tiktok-star-blasted-refusing-donate-organs-meat-eaters/. 
  15. ↑ Hobson, Karen (17 September 2004). "Dog persuaded them to give up meat". Montreal Gazette. https://archive.org/details/the-gazette-fri-sep-17-2004/mode/1up. 
  16. ↑ Puhak, Janine (24 February 2021). "'That Vegan Teacher' says TikTok ban won't silence her following petition, controversies". https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/vegan-teacher-tiktok-ban-petition-controversey. 
  17. ↑ Song, Sandra (24 February 2021). "That Vegan Teacher Has Been Banned From TikTok". Paper. https://www.papermag.com/that-vegan-teacher-tiktok-ban-2650731084.html?rebelltitem=11#rebelltitem11. 
  18. ↑ Schroeder, Audra (9 March 2021). "That Vegan Teacher created a new TikTok account—but it's already gone". https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/that-vegan-teacher-banned-again-on-tiktok/. 
  19. ↑ Diekmeyer, Kadie Karen (21 October 2021). All LGBTQ+ Should Be Vegan (video). YouTube. Retrieved 17 February 2022.[|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
  20. ↑ Giliver, Liam (24 February 2021). "Who Is That Vegan Teacher? Why Did TikTok Ban Her?". https://plantbasednews.org/news/social-media/who-is-that-vegan-teacher-and-why-is-she-going-viral-on-tiktok/. 
  21. ↑ Castravelli, Chris (18 September 2004). "So what does rover eat?". Montreal Gazette. https://archive.org/details/the-gazette-sat-sep-18-2004/mode/1up. 
  22. ↑ (in en) Unnatural Vegan Fails Bravery School, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DQikXxBt0, retrieved 2023-01-16 
  23. ↑ "That Vegan Teacher Goes Fishing in Italy". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB3onq9F-JU?si=mbEczUFroKKuDfA61. 

External links



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