DEFEND ANIMALS
HISTORY
LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND
AFTER LEAVING THE GANG LIFE BEHIND FOLLOWING AN AWAKENING I HAD DURING A 6 MONTH STINT IN PRISON, I BEGAN MY JOURNEY OF SOBRIETY AND VEGANISM AND I WANTED TO GIVE BACK.
I MADE MY FIRST YOUTUBE VIDEO IN APRIL 2015 WITH THE INTENTION OF INSPIRING PEOPLE WITH MY JOURNEY TO CHANGE AS I HAD. EARLY ON DURING MY VEGAN JOURNEY I FOUND AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST CALLED GARY YOUROFSKY, WHO WAS VERY INFLUENTIAL TO ME IN TERMS OF ANIMAL RIGHTS IN MY EARLIER YEARS
A NEW ERA
I BEGAN MAKING CONSISTENT VIDEO CONTENT EVERY DAY (MOST OF MY EARLIER CONTENT I’VE MADE PRIVATE) BUT MY EARLIEST INFLUENTIAL VIDEO SERIES BEGAN IN SEPTEMBER 2015. I COLLABORATED WITH A YOUTUBER NAMED MARTIN AND I MADE MY FIRST EVER STREET INTERVIEW VIDEO. EXCUSE THE LANGUAGE IN THIS ONE, BUT AFTER THIS VIDEO I REALLY FELT LIKE I’D FOUND SOMETHING THAT I WAS GOOD AT - TALKING TO PEOPLE ON THE STREETS ABOUT ANIMAL RIGHTS AND VEGANISM.
THIS BIRTHED A SERIES CALLED JOEY VS THE PUBLIC WHICH WAS THE FIRST ANIMAL RIGHTS FOCUSED STREET OUTREACH SERIES THAT WAS FILMED AND POSTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA. MARTIN HAD A VEGAN STREET INTERVIEW CALLED DRUNK OPINIONS BEFORE THIS SERIES IN JULY 2015, AND IT REALLY INSPIRED ME TO TAKE THIS CONCEPT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. SO THANK YOU MARTIN!
HERE’S SOME COOL PIECES OF MY HISTORY
AND MY FIRST EVER SLAUGHTERHOUSE VIGIL WHICH I ORGANISED MYSELF IN ADELAIDE JUNE 2017
MY EARLIEST RECORDED ANIMAL RIGHTS STREET DEBATE IN 2015
JOEY VS THE PUBLIC PLAYLIST
IN FEBRUARY 2016 ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH IN MY ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISM BEGAN WHEN AN ADELAIDE VEGAN NAMED NICOLE MITSIGEORGIS ORGANISED AN EARTHLINGS EXPERIENCE EVENT. THIS WAS A GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN THAT WAS FOUNDED IN LONDON SOMETIME BEFORE BY TWO UK SISTERS. AFTER PULLING ONE OF THESE EVENTS OFF IN ADELAIDE, IT RECEIVED A LOT OF POSITIVE ONLINE ATTENTION, PARTICULARLY AFTER A WELL KNOWN VEGAN YOUTUBER NAMED FREELEE UPLOADED MY VIDEO TO HER CHANNEL GETTING HUNDREDS OF THOUSAND OF VIEWS.
ANOTHER COOL PART OF MY HISTORY INVOLVES SOMEONE WHO I CONSIDER ONE OF THE GREATS, EARTHLING ED. WHO UPLOADED HIS FIRST STREET INTERVIEW VIDEO IN MAY 2016. ONE OF THE BIGGEST COMPLIMENTS I’VE RECEIVED WAS WHEN ED CREDITED ME AS BEING ONE OF THE INSPIRATIONS FOR HIM TO START HIS OWN YOUTUBE CHANNEL, YOU CAN SEE THE CLIP HERE. THE MOST AMAZING PART OF THIS STORY FOR ME, IS THAT EARTHLING ED HAS GONE LEAPS AND BOUNDS EVER SINCE AND HAS CONTINUED TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS TO ME!
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
AFTER MY FIRST OVERSEAS TOUR OF THE UK AND ISRAEL IN 2017, I REALISED I NEEDED TO DO MY ACTIVISM FULL TIME. I HAD AMASSED THOUSANDS OF VIEWS FROM MY ACTIONS OVERSEAS RANGING FROM STREET DEBATES, TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE AND DAIRY FARM VISITS. I KNEW AFTER THIS TOUR THAT I HAD TO QUIT MY JOB AS A TRAFFIC CONTROLLER IN ADELAIDE AND DO MY ACTIVISM FULL TIME TO GIVE THE ANIMALS 100% OF MY FOCUS.
SO IN JULY 2017 I RELEASED A VIDEO ASKING FOR SUPPORT ON PATREON, WHICH IS AN ONLINE PLATFORM WHERE CONTENT CREATORS CAN BE DONATED TO MONTHLY. THIS WAS WHEN I WAS ABLE TO TAKE MY ACTIVISM AND MY IMPACT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. SINCE THAT TIME, WITH THE HELP OF SO MANY AMAZING ORGANISERS AROUND THE WORLD, I HAVE TRAVELLED ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND THE WORLD REACHING TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
![THE VEGAN PROPHECY | Taking It To The Holy Land... [FINAL EP.]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5dfmFbQWIuA/maxresdefault.jpg)
THE VEGAN PROPHECY
ONE OF WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE THE MOST IMPACTFUL OF ALL MY CAMPAIGNS, WAS NAMED ‘THE VEGAN PROPHECY’ YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE PLAYLIST HERE OR BELOW
BREAKTHROUGH!
THE VEGAN PROPHECY TOUR IS WHERE I BROKE THROUGH TO THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN THE UK. I HAD A FEW MEDIA APPEARANCES BEFORE THIS TIME IN HONG KONG AND AUSTRALIA, BUT THIS WAS WHERE I REALLY BEGAN TO REACH A LARGER AUDIENCE.
THE 2018 UK CAMPAIGNING BEGAN WITH AN INTENTION, TO BRING THE MESSAGE OF ANIMAL RIGHTS VEGANISM INTO THE FOREFRONT OF THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA. THE YEAR THAT FOLLOWED TRULY FELT LIKE SOMETHING MORE POWERFUL HAD ANSWERED MY CALL.
AFTER MY CONVERSATION WITH TWO POLICE OFFICERS AT A SLAUGHTERHOUSE IN SCOTLAND WENT VIRAL ON FACEBOOK, AMASSING OVER 7 MILLION VIEWS SEEN HERE, I WAS APPROACHED BY A BBC JOURNALIST WHO HAD HEARD ABOUT MY ACTIVISM IN THE UK. SHE FOLLOWED ME AROUND FROM EVENT TO EVENT AND CREATED A SHORT DOCUMENTARY WHICH AIRED ORIGINALLY ON BBC1, THE LARGEST TV CHANNEL IN THE UK, REACHING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AND CREATING A MEDIA STORM WHICH LASTED FOR MONTHS AFTER, FORCING THE CONVERSATION ABOUT ANIMAL RIGHTS. THE VEGAN ‘DEATH THREAT’ CLAIMS MADE BY FARMER ALISON WAUGH WERE LATER SHOWN TO BE FABRICATED
A SHORT TIME LATER I APPEARED ON THE JEREMY VINE RADIO SHOW, WHICH AT THE TIME IT AIRED, HAD 7.5 MILLION LISTENERS. SEE FULL INTERVIEW HERE. THIS INTERVIEW GENERATED ANOTHER SLEW OF ARTICLES FROM SOME OF THE LARGEST MAINSTREAM MEDIA OUTLETS IN THE UK AND AROUND THE WORLD.
THIS LED TO ME HAVING ANOTHER DEBATE ON A POPULAR TV SHOW CALLED ‘THIS MORNING’ SEEN HERE, REACHING MILLIONS MORE WITH AN ANIMAL RIGHTS MESSAGE. THE SHOW’S AFTERMATH GENERATED MANY MORE HEADLINE ARTICLES BY MAINSTREAM MEDIA OUTLETS ACROSS THE UK. THESE ARTICLES WEREN’T ALWAYS SHOWING ME IN A POSITIVE LIGHT OF COURSE, BUT THEY DIRECTLY QUOTED MY COMMENTS ABOUT THE ETHICS OF MEAT AND DAIRY AND IT FORCED THE CONVERSATION OF ANIMAL RIGHTS INTO THE PUBLIC SPHERE.
FOLLOWING THIS, WERE MULTIPLE NEWSPAPER INTERVIEWS AND RADIO DEBATES WITH PRESENTERS AND FARMERS FROM ALL AROUND THE UK, AS I CONTINUED MY BACK TO BACK UK CAMPAIGNING WHILST, AT THE SAME TIME, EDITING ALL OF MY OWN CONTENT, DOING MANY SPEECHES/WORKSHOPS, OUTREACH EVENTS AND SLAUGHTERHOUSE VIGIL’S, ALL WHILE TRYING MY BEST TO MAINTAIN SOME LEVEL OF SANITY AMONGST THE CHAOS!
IN ADDITION THERE WAS AN AUSTRALIAN TV OUTLET CALLED SBS DATELINE, WHO PRODUCED A DOCUMENTARY WITH ME AROUND THIS TIME, AND AIRED IN MANY PLACES INTERNATIONALLY. THEY ALSO MADE A YOUTUBE VERSION WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE.
I THEN CONTINUED ON TO ISRAEL ONCE AGAIN TO COMPLETE MY VEGAN PROPHECY CAMPAIGN WITH THE FINAL EPISODE HERE, WITH ONE LAST STOP TO EXPOSE THE HORRORS OF ISRAEL’S DAIRY INDUSTRY ALONGSIDE ACTIVISTS TAL GILBOA AND ROEE SHPERNIK
THE HUGE YEAR OF 2018 DIDN'T END HERE, WITH THE GROUND BREAKING FILM DOMINION BEING COMPLETED AND RELEASED BY CHRIS DELFORCE AND HIS TEAM. I TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO FLY TO AUSTRALIA TO HELP PROMOTE THE FILM'S RELEASE WITH MY DOMINION CAMPAIGN SERIES (BELOW) WHICH INCLUDED A VISIT TO AN AUSTRALIAN PIG FARM