Taylor Sheridan Calls Being Vegan For Ethical Reasons “Absurd”

Taylor Sheridan, writer of Yellowstone, talks veganism with Joe Rogan.  

Actor and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan recently sat down with comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan for an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Sheridan is the writer behind the incredibly popular series Yellowstone, as well as other Paramount Network shows like Tulsa King, Mayor Of Kingstown, and Special Ops: Lioness. 

Both individuals are known to unapologetically share their opinions, so the combination was sure to produce some interesting conversation. During the episode, the topic of veganism was raised. Sheridan dove right in: 

“I think one of the most absurd positions anyone can take, is they’re a vegan for an ethical reason. It’s preposterous. You can do it for a medical reason. I don’t know what that reason would be, maybe you can’t process meat and can’t process proteins like that. But to do it for an ethical reason is absurd.” 

Taylor Sheridan backs up his opinion with his knowledge learned from ranching.   

Sheridan discusses why he feels that being vegan for an ethical reason is contradictory, explaining:  

‘The reason I say that is I have plowed a field. It is carnage. It is 12-feet of carnage. And every single plant that you eat is going to be tilled into the ground at some capacity. So you’re gonna kill everything…”

Rogan agreed with this perspective, adding: 

“Ted Nugent came on this podcast and said if you want to kill the most things, become a vegan. If you’re thinking about individual life. If you don’t think that one life equals one life, if you think that small things aren’t as valuable as large things, that’s a totally different discussion and that’s a weird discussion. 

But if you think that all life is sacred, think about the life of ground-nesting birds, fawns, the lives of rodents, insects those things are getting demolished.”

Taylor Sheridan talks about the ecological implications of veganism and the food chain. 

Sheridan goes on to say that even when you remove humans from the equation, virtually everything in the ecosystem is living at the expense of another. He continues: 

“If a certain weed grows up over the grass it’s killing the grass. This little sapling grows up over the grass, it’s killing the grass. If the grass grows up before the weeds, it kills the weeds… there is not a vegan fish, there’s not a vegetarian fish. Every fish, every frog, they’re eating another organism to survive. Every one of them.” 

Later in the conversation, Sheridan talks about the amount of water it takes to produce one almond, which is reportedly three gallons. When you multiply that by the roughly 10,000 almonds on an almond tree, the argument is made that the environmental impact of the almond milk that many drink is massive. This can be especially true in a state like California which is continuously in a drought and is simultaneously the world’s largest producer of almonds.

What do you think? 

Watch the conversation between Taylor Sheridan and Joe Rogan below!