Paul McCartney calls eating bats 'medieval', wants China's wet market to be banned over coronavirus
The former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney recently made an appearance on the popular radio host Howard Stern's SiriusXM program on Tuesday, April 14. During the course of their interview, the celebrated singer-songwriter launched a heated rant aimed at the Chinese government, criticizing the fact that they still operated wet markets and even labeled their practice of eating bats as "medieval". These infamous Chinese wet markets are places where live or recently-killed animals such as bats are sold as fresh meat and used in a variety of ways, including cooking and medicinal purposes.
In the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many scientists have pointed to the exotic Chinese wet markets in Wuhan as being the most likely source for the COVID-19 outbreak. The Wuhan region was where the world's first coronavirus patients were identified before the deadly virus slowly started creeping across the globe, affecting close to two million people in the past few months.
As a longtime supporter of animal rights and PETA, 77-year-old McCartney passionately condemned the archaic practices of killing wild animals for their flesh and called on the current Chinese leaders to put a halt to the barbarous activity. "I really hope that this will mean that the Chinese government will say, ‘Okay, guys, we have really got to get super hygienic around here'," McCartney told Stern. "Let’s face it, come on, it is a little bit medieval, eating bats."
He continued his rant, saying that these ongoing practices were putting the entire planet in danger. "They might as well be, you know, letting off atomic bombs because this is affecting the whole world," he said. "Whoever is responsible for this is at war with the world and itself — it just doesn't make any sense at all."
McCartney also admitted that putting a ban on these wet markets would be "a very good idea for them, not just us". "They don't need all of the people dying. And what's it for? These quite medieval practices. They just need to clean up their act. This may lead to it. If this doesn’t, I don’t know what will."
Despite the fact that these markets had gone on forever and were an intrinsic part of Chinese tradition and culture, McCartney was quick to point out: "They did slavery forever, too. You have to change things at some point."
"It's so crazy," said McCartney of the precarious health crisis that is affecting the globe. The former Beatle also revealed that the far-reaching complications of the coronavirus meant that he was now left stranded from his family. McCartney is currently in Sussex, England, with his daughter Mary's family during the enforced lockdown period, while his wife Nancy Shevell is still quarantined in the United States. "So that's pretty rough," he said.
But the beloved British singer also had plenty of praise for the way the world was responding to the deadly threat to humanity, comparing it to how people had reacted to World War II.
"This kind of, ‘We’ll get on with it, we’ll do whatever’s necessary, we’ll all pull together and we’ll try and stay happy', that spirit is kind of what they (Brits during WW2) needed and it’s what we need now. That’s what we’re seeing now, a lot of people pulling together. In a way, it’s a great thing because if we don’t, we’re finished," he said.