Animal Rights Activists Want Glen Taylor Removed as T-Wolves Governor After Protests

AP Photo/Brandon Dill

Direct Action Everywhere, an animal-rights activist group that has disrupted three Minnesota Timberwolves games in April in protest of team governor Glen Taylor’s ownership of Rembrandt Farms, has demanded that he relinquish his current NBA role and give $11.3 million to groups that promote animal welfare.

“To have Taylor and other extremely powerful factory-farming businessmen getting these taxpayer bailouts flies in the face of the values of ordinary Americans,” Direct Action Everywhere media contact and activist Matt Johnson said, per ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz.

“Taylor should set a powerful example by stepping away from NBA ownership and refusing to take any subsidies related to the HPAI outbreak, and donate funds previously received to help repair some of the harm of the most destructive industry on the planet.”

Billionaire entrepreneur Marc Lore heads an ownership group, which also includes ex-MLB star Alex Rodriguez, that will take the team over from Taylor in 2023.

The deal became official in July 2021. However, Direct Action Everywhere is looking for a speedier transition of power.

As for Rembrandt Farms, Arnovitz noted that it is “a large-scale factory farm that produces tens of millions of eggs each year.” A bird influenza broke out in March at the facility, and the response was as follows, per Arnovitz.

“To combat the highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic, the company killed more than 5 million birds with a method called ventilation shutdown plus at one of its primary facilities in Iowa. Under the method, air flow into the industrial sheds where the birds reside is closed off. Activists deem the practice inhumane.”

Direct Action Everywhere has filed complaints to authorities in Iowa, where the farm is located, that Rembrandt’s violated the state’s laws, according to Arnovitz.

They also want Taylor Corp., the parent company of Rembrandt Farms, to “donate the $11.3 million it received in federal funds to aid in a 2015 outbreak to public health and animal welfare organizations.”

Three incidents have taken place at Timberwolves games this month alone.

Direct Action Everywhere calls itself “a global grassroots network of animal rights activists that plans to “achieve revolutionary social and political change for animals in one generation.”

As far as the basketball action on the court goes, Memphis will be hosting Minnesota for Game 5 on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET with the series tied at two. Game 6 will take place Friday in Minnesota at a to-be-determined time, and Game 7 (if necessary) will occur in Memphis on Sunday.