Maryland seafood locale claps back at PETA in billboard feud before crab season: 'Brought religion into it'

Jimmy's Famous Seafood, a seafood restaurant in Maryland, hit back after the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched a billboard near the restaurant in February that encouraged people to "go vegan." 

PETA's Lent-themed billboard read, "I never lent you my flesh, go vegan," according to a video posted to Jimmy's Famous Seafood's Twitter page. The billboard included a picture of a cross and a fish. 

The seafood restaurant, located in Dundalk, Maryland, posted a photo of two billboards on Thursday advertising their restaurant in response. One said, "they died to be enjoyed" and the other read, "it'd be a sin to waste them." 

"They brought religion into it," co-owner John Minadakis, who took over the business with his brother in 2003 after their father passed, told Fox News Digital, noting PETA's billboard. "There are some things that I believe should be off limits in the marketing world."

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PETA responded to Jimmy's Famous Seafood's post on Twitter encouraging them to "show kindness to fish and crabs during Lent."

"Too bad you don’t have the marketing smarts to realize that people are SNAPPING up vegan eats. Instead of getting your claws out, show kindness to fish & crabs during Lent and year-round by adding a tasty vegan option to the menu," PETA wrote. 

Minadakis told Fox News Digital that Maryland's economy "thrives" because of the blue crab industry, calling the industry "vital."

"They've always come after us as a business, as a small, family-owned business," he added. 

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"The Jimmy’s team seems to have a sense of humor, as do we, but they don’t have a heart or the marketing wherewithal to realize that people are snapping up vegan vittles. Instead of getting their claws out, they could join PETA’s appeal to show kindness to fish during Lent and year-round by adding a tasty vegan option to the menu," PETA's executive vice president Tracy Reiman, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. 

Jimmy's Famous Seafood launched a billboard in 2018 in response to one PETA posted near the restaurant as well.

"SteaMEd crabs. Here to stay. Get famous," their billboard read, referencing PETA's, which said, "I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the individual. Go vegan."

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Jimmy's Famous Seafood is also selling t-shirts that say, "People eating tasty animals." According to their Twitter account, the proceeds will go to Saving Grace Animal Rescue of Maryland.