| “ | Hello students, welcome to class! | ” |
―Kadie's intro | ||
Kadie Karen Diekmeyer (born: September 24, 1964), better known online as That Vegan Teacher (or simply "Miss Kadie"), is a Canadian YouTuber and former TikTok personality known for her controversial videos in which she promotes veganism in unsatisfactory and militant ways, often attracting large amounts of hate and troll comments in her comment section. Many of her videos are about other YouTubers, in which she directly scolds them for not being vegan, or not aligning with any beliefs she considers to be morally consistent. Over time, she has received accusations of racism and homophobia. Her era of most popularity was from late 2020 to early-to-mid 2022.
Early life[]
Kadie was born in Montréal, Quebec, Canada on September 24, 1964.[1] She is allegedly bisexual,[2] but this is often highly doubted.
Kadie worked as a registered nurse for 25 years before attending Concordia University to become a ESL teacher in French-Canadian schools. She worked both jobs and eventually dropped her nursing career to work full time in the school system.[3]
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she dropped out of her job and started her online career.[4]
Veganism[]
Kadie often attempts to encourage and convince non-vegans to become vegan. She often makes videos in support of animal rights and veganism, and also makes responses to those who have criticized or made fun of her. She also tries to encourage people to watch vegan documentaries like "Dominion." Since she used to be a teacher, she refers to her audience as "students," and frequently grades people based on their actions — a check if their actions support animal rights and her general beliefs; an 'x' if it opposes.
Despite her denouncement of the Catholic church,[5] and her atheistic and pantheistic worldviews, she claims that only vegans go to heaven, to encourage religious people, who claim their religion does not support veganism, to go vegan anyway, and/or to "change their religion."[6]
She tends to have an animosity towards anyone who isn't vegan or does not conform to her expectations, and calls people "evil" or "animal abusers" if they continue to consume animals and their products. She expects her "students" to meet specific criteria (showing vegan "cruelty free products," saying that only vegan foods should be in schools and hospitals, being under 10 minutes) in their videos or what she calls "presentations" or "essays".[7]
She also refers the internet as her "school."[7] She believes that she can use any method to "convert people to veganism" because of the fact that she is vegan.[8]
Controversies[]
Organ donation[]
In September 2020, Kadie came under fire for comments surrounding organ donation. In a TikTok, she said, "I've decided that there's no way on earth that I ever want any of you [meat eaters] to ever get my organs if I die."[9][10] Kadie decided that year to not sign her organ donor card for the first time.[11] The video received more than 753,000 views on TikTok and over 100,000 on Twitter.
TommyInnit comments[]
On December 15, 2020, TommyInnit made a TikTok about "being surrounded by many women in college." Using TikTok's stitch function, Kadie then responded to the TikTok saying, "Don't be scared, Tommy. Just follow That Meat Teacher, Miss Tofu. She'll help you find a nice vegan girl who will teach you what to do."[12] Kadie then made a response video on her channel, which targeted TommyInnit fans, but Tommy did not respond to it. Many videos were made about accusations that Kadie was stalking Tommy on January 11, 2021.
She later went on to respond to Tommy when he made a TikTok showing off his YouTube Play Buttons to his audience. Her response said, "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," then she held up an apple, a pear, and a cucumber; meant to represent male genitalia. As Tommy was 16 years old — a minor according to TikTok's Community Guidelines[13] — at the time Kadie spoke to him in a manner that some deemed inappropriate, and thus, her TikTok account was mass-reported and ultimately banned, as in some places this is considered sexual harassment.[12]
Kadie eventually defended her decision, stating that locally, Tommy would have been considered a "college-age student" and that she initially "had no idea who he was."
Response to Daz Games[]
On December 30, 2020, Daz Games made a reaction video criticizing and ridiculing Kadie. Only a few days later, on January 2, 2021, she responded with a video defending herself. She stated that since his video had over 1 million views, the "vegan activists will take over the comments" which caused her to receive more hate.
Daz made a final video about Kadie on January 9, 2021 responding to her video and directly telling her, "You're brainwashed, you think that everyone is coming at you because of what you put in your mouth, it's what comes out of your mouth that we don't like." Near the end of his response video, he played a diss track and later posted it as a separate video, ironically claiming that he is "done making videos on her."
Comments about coming out[]
In January 2021, Kadie received backlash for uploading a TikTok in which she said, "coming out as a vegan activist, is more special than coming out as LGBTQ."[14] Kadie then clarified what she meant by her statement, which was reacted to by Jammidodger, a bisexual and transgender YouTuber.[15] The comment section of the TikTok soon filled up with hate comments targeting Kadie.
Dissing Gordon Ramsay[]
In January 2021, Kadie created a TikTok about Gordon Ramsay, making a song that was a parody of the one she sang in front of a McDonald's restaurant. Ramsay then posted[16] a duet of the video, where he eats a leaf of lettuce, spits it out, calls her a "vegan donut" and eats a beef burger. Kadie then posted a response video that was taken down by TikTok.
On March 19, 2021, Ramsay published a video titled "Gordon Ramsay Goes Vegan...for steak???" where he said that he was temporarily going vegan for lunch. In the video, Ramsay cooks an eggplant steak and shows the ingredients to his recipe. However, Kadie took Ramsay out of context when he said he is "turning vegan" and congratulated him by singing "Apparently, he can't stop thinking of me! I live rent free inside...Gordon Ramsay!" After realizing that he was not actually going to become vegan, Kadie went on to slander Ramsay for the "murder" of animals, calling him "The Devil" and comparing him to Adolf Hitler.[17]
On July 6, 2021, Kadie released a diss track against Ramsay on her YouTube channel.[18] The video was overwhelmingly disliked with 11,000 dislikes against 1,000 likes. Comments were disabled on the video, but they were later turned back on again.
GeorgeNotFound comments[]
On January 2021, after the controversy with Gordon Ramsay, she commented on a GeorgeNotFound TikTok of him going out in the snow and requesting for likes.[19] She responded to George, "Am I missing something? You want likes for walking in the snow? How about you stop paying for the rape, torture, and murder of innocent animals and be vegan. Then I'll like you."[20] In February 2021, GeorgeNotFound expressed his views against Kadie in another TikTok, and called her "a little bitch."[21] Just like what happened on Kadie's attack on the Dream SMP member TommyInnit, Minecraft YouTube fans started to spam reports, including DanTDM, a friend of the Dream SMP.
On January 30, 2021, Pancho uploaded the video "THAT VEGAN TEACHER ATE MEAT." In the video, someone who looked like her was recorded eating a meal from Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers. This was seen as hypocritical of her as she shamed others for the same thing. She responded by admitting that he was right, she did eat meat, but this was before she made the decision to become vegan.[22]
Accusations of racism[]
On March 2, 2021, Kadie made a video saying that she should be allowed to say the n-word;[23] she later made a different video where she showed a Miss Elaina doll (from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) and a piece of paper with compliments directed to the doll, arranged in an acronym: Naturally Intelligent, Gorgeous, Generous, Exemplary, and Radiant. The camera then pans away, revealing all the words being written in the form of an acrostic poem spelling out the slur.
This was not Kadie's first time being accused of racism, as is was also infamous for repurposing the prominent Black Lives Matter "I can't breathe" slogan into a song about the process of killing animals, released on May 25, 2020, the same day when George Floyd was killed under police custody. She has also compared the killing, consumption of animal products, and practices in the animal agriculture industry to the Holocaust.[24][25]
Ban from TikTok[]
In February 2021, Kadie was banned from TikTok for multiple Community Guidelines violations. Shortly afterwards, she created another account using Dream's icon via VPN to get access to the TikTok Website, saying she wanted "these people who play these video games to pay attention to the vegan message." Furthermore, she called Dream's icon "a penis that was circumcised" and "Mr. Penis Head," which caused her to be met with controversy.[26] The second account was banned a week later.
She continued making TikTok accounts that had her picture on and used different costumes and names, but TikTok continued banning her, which caused her to eventually give up. However, signs showed that she came back into TikTok after fanart of her around early June 2022 showed her being put in a relationship with a popular TikTok star known as "Queen Cheryl".[27]
Accusations of animal abuse[]
Kadie has a dog named Bella, which she feeds a vegan diet. Due to the controversial diet, the hashtag #savebellathedog emerged on Twitter,[28] as well as a petition on change.org which has since gotten over 50,000 signatures. Many have claimed that Kadie is hypocritical because they believe veganism is unhealthy for dogs. Bella has been vegan since August 2017.[29]
During her controversy, a user on TikTok named @Makmarieg (Makayla) encouraged people to call news outlets and call the police, more specifically, the City of Montreal Police Service (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) on Kadie due to claims that she is mistreating her dog, Bella, by feeding her vegan dog food. In another TikTok, she shared a DM between her and one of her followers saying that over 200 people have contacted the police and news outlets due to these claims. Makayla also made a TikTok showing a email done by her that had been sent to CNN. Another TikTok was made showing the conversation between her and a CTV News worker. It was supposed to be aired on January 21st, but it was not there on that day and was not mentioned.[30]
Attack on MrBeast and PewDiePie[]
In August 2021, Kadie targeted MrBeast for promoting eating meat in one of his videos by reacting to it. In her reaction video, when MrBeast was eating in his video, she asked if the food MrBeast was eating in the video was vegan by saying, "Is it vegan? He doesn't say so".[31] She kept doing this throughout the video. After she reacted to it, she urged MrBeast to be vegan and promote all vegan websites.
On October 13, 2021, she made a song similar to "Gordon Ramsay Diss track" in which she simply replaced the word "Gordon Ramsay" with "MrBeast". The video showed the videos that include food, mainly burgers and meat. At the end of the song, she said that she wanted people to encourage MrBeast to be vegan, and promote documentaries, which include "Earthlings," "Dominion," "Cowspiracy," and "Seaspiracy."[32]
When That Vegan Teacher made her first video attacking MrBeast, the video started with Kadie saying that MrBeast was in the wrong for spending thousands of dollars on expensive food instead of giving it to the poor and starving.[31] However, five months prior to Kadie's first rant video, MrBeast started uploading on a channel known as Beast Philanthropy, which is a channel based on Jimmy and his friends doing charity work and helping the people in need.
In the same month when Kadie attacked MrBeast, she started making videos on PewDiePie, praising him for "declaring" himself a vegan.[33] PewDiePie is not a vegan, but rather a pescatarian (someone who refrains from eating all meat except fish), and the videos were criticized for overanalyzing and for Kadie projecting her views onto PewDiePie. PewDiePie made a reaction video with CinnamonToastKen where they both criticized and made fun of Kadie.[34]
The Dylan Mulvaney Drama[]
On October 24, 2022, Kadie uploaded a video to TikTok which was a stitch featuring transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney.[35]
The video started with a clip of Dylan showing her $4,000 purse, before it cut to Kadie pretending to be a cow saying "Help me run from Dylan Mulvaney! He's trying to stab and rip my skin from me, pretend he's a "lady,"…”. This video caused a divided comment section, with some saying that Dylan Mulvaney was in the wrong, and others completely siding with the individual against Kadie.
Kadie had also received major backlash for misgendering Dylan in the video.
Other[]
Kadie has been involved in many other controversies, such as ones where she would target YouTubers and other social media personalities like Dhar Mann, Doctor Mike, Khaby Lame, Anna Oop, Teacher Eddie, Andrew Tate, along with targeting Queen Elizabeth II after her death.
She has also expressed hostile and toxic anti-religious—specifically anti-Christian—views, along with claiming that the September 11 attacks were "not as bad as many say" due to the fact that many meat-eaters had passed in the attack. She has also made many controversial comparisons such as comparing speciesism to racism, animal agriculture to the holocaust, and animal rights to civil rights.
Quotes[]
- "Eat. Your. Vegetables!"[36]
- "Welcome back to class, welcome back to class, welcome back to class! Don't be a pain in the ass, be vegan, yeah!" (Kadie's intro)
- "I already told you! Don't do drugs, and eat your vegetables!"
- ”I’m sorry, but you failed the assignment.”
- "Eating animals is wrong, McDonald's! Hurting animals is wrong, McDonald's! Share this song, and change your entire menu to be vegan from now on!"
- "Eating animals is wrong, Gordon Ramsay! Hurting animals is wrong, Gordon Ramsay! Share this song! And if you call me a donut, that's fine, because you're vegan from now on!" (a variation of this song)
- "Well, you see, at least I'm not getting an ad for any kind of meat or dairy products. That's good, at least they figured that out."
- ”OH MY FUCKING GOD!” (After seeing an ad for steak)
- "No! Oh my god, what is the dad doing? Don't feed your kid dead body parts!"
- "Why the fuck aren't you vegan yet?!"
- "Alright students, grab your notepads."
- ""I don't give a fuck what you eat"?! What the fuck is wrong with you, Billie Eilish?! Of course you should give a fuck what people eat!"[37]
- "From now on, only put veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds in your shopping cart, because peace begins on your plate, so open up your heart...to the animals."
- "It takes hundred clicks to become vegan."
Trivia[]
- Kadie describes her dog as "shmernered".[38]
- Kadie hates video games, especially violent games, viewing them as a waste of time, and a distraction from veganism.
- Kadie is against circumsision, and sees it as child abuse.[39]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Finally! After 9 1/2 Years! by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. December 5, 2021. (archive)
- ↑ All LGBTQ+ Should Be Vegan. by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. October 21, 2021.
- ↑ Ann Carroll. "Songstress spreads unity", Montreal Gazette, 24 October 1996, p. 111.
- ↑ @MictheVegan vs @SSSniperWolf by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. September 10, 2021. (archive)
- ↑ Why are there dead animal bodies in this Catholic church, and where exactly is "God" these days? by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. July 4, 2022.
- ↑ Vegan teacher tries to change your religion by RnunR. YouTube. September 27, 2020.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hooray! Pancho Came Back To Vegan School! by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. April 26, 2021.
- ↑ That Vegan Teacher. Ask me anything. I'm here right now in front of my computer. I will take the best questions and answer them in a video. I will also take the best how-I-became-vegan stories and use them too.. YouTube.
- ↑ Vegan activist blasted for saying she would not donate organs to meat eaters. 7NEWS (September 14, 2020). Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved on March 5, 2021.
- ↑ Maria Chiorando (September 14, 2020). Vegan TikTok Star Blasted For Refusing To Donate Organs To Meat Eaters. Plant Based News. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved on March 5, 2021.
- ↑ Vegans: Don’t sign your organ donor card. by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. November 14, 2021.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Steven Asarch (February 24, 2021). A TikTok animal rights activist was banned from the app days after making a sexual joke about a 16-year-old YouTuber. Insider. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved on February 25, 2021.
- ↑ Youth Safety and Well-Being. TikTok (March 2023). Archived from the original on July 3, 2023. Retrieved on September 7, 2023. “[...] for people under the age of 18 (we refer to them as "youth" or "young people").”
- ↑ "It's Harder to Come Out as Vegan than as LGBTQ" - The Vegan Teacher Strikes Again by The Real Papa Gut. YouTube. October 22, 2020.
- ↑ Is Coming Out as LGBTQ 'Selfish'? by Jammidodger. YouTube. February 8, 2021.
- ↑ gordonramsayofficial (January 19, 2021). #duet with @thatveganteacher Beef #burgers were consumed while making this tiktok. TikTok.
- ↑ How Gordon Ramsay Is Like Hitler & How That Makes Me Cry by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. March 26, 2021.
- ↑ Why Are You A Veganphobic Animal Bully? @gordonramsay by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. July 7, 2021.
- ↑ GeorgeNotFound Is In The Snow by Dream team best moments. YouTube. May 5, 2022.
- ↑ That Vegan Teacher ATTACKS GeorgeNotFound! by Jalyn. YouTube. January 27, 2021.
- ↑ TurbidOyster (February 22, 2021). GeorgeNotFound is eating McDonald’s bad for you?.
- ↑ Yes, Pancho, I Ate Meat! (February 2, 2021).
- ↑ Omni (March 3, 2021). That Vegan Teacher Wants the N Word Pass, Dr. Seuss Got Twitter Cancelled, Texas Reopens.
- ↑ Rachel Kiley (February 23, 2021). TikTok bans That Vegan Teacher after homophobic, racist videos. The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved on February 25, 2021.
- ↑ Rachel Kiley (January 26, 2021). Popular TikTok vegan co-opts 'I can't breathe' to protest animal cruelty. The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved on March 3, 2021.
- ↑ Prerna Nambiar (March 10, 2021). What did That Vegan Teacher say about Dream? Video explored. Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved on September 7, 2023.
- ↑ Post on Twitter by @blooming_aster, accessed on September 7, 2023.
- ↑ #savebellathedog. Twitter.
- ↑ Bella Vegan Dog Is Still Alive! If Bella Can Be Vegan, So Can You! by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. July 14, 2021.
- ↑ That Vegan Teacher Takes Disturbing Videos to Another Level After Her Ban by Spill. YouTube. March 11, 2021.
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 @MrBeast No amount of "good" you do for the world can undo the damage you are causing. by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. August 18, 2021.
- ↑ @MrBeast Rap by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. October 13, 2021.
- ↑ Happy Vegan Declaration Day @PewDiePie! You passed your first assignment! I'm so proud of you! by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. August 7, 2021.
- ↑ Vegan Teacher is in Love with me by PewDiePie. YouTube. August 10, 2021.
- ↑ That Vegan Teacher Becomes TRANSPHOBIC #shorts by Sierra's World 2020. YouTube. October 25, 2022.
- ↑ Eat YOUR vegetables///That Vegan Teacher by Please insert Username here. YouTube. December 15, 2020.
- ↑ Billie Eilish vs David Ramms: Who Is Bravest? by That Vegan Teacher (728s mark). YouTube. March 19, 2021.
- ↑ 24 Hours With The Vegan Teacher by BENOFTHEWEEK. YouTube. January 24, 2023.
- ↑ Jews, Christians, Walking on Water, Circumcision, Santa, Flat Earth & Would you be vegan for 100K? by That Vegan Teacher. YouTube. March 21, 2023.
