Musician Tanya Tagaq showed her support for the Inuit seal hunt last week by posting a "sealfie" on her Twitter account. But the backlash she received was more than she could possibly imagine.
Members of the Inuit community have been posting "sealfies" images -- pictures with them sporting sealskins -- on their Twitter accounts in response to Ellen DeGeneres and her now famous "selfie" during the Academy Awards. The Daily Mail reports DeGeneres revealed the photo with a who's who of Hollywood stars raised $1.5 million for the Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society, as well as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) oppose the Inuit seal hunt.
On March 28 Tagaq posted this tweet which shows her baby beside a dead adult seal near her home town of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
#sealfie pic.twitter.com/EPKuvrCBF1
— tanya tagaq (@tagaq) March 28, 2014
In an interview with CBC News, Tagaq said she was shocked by the reaction to the photo. "It became quite hurtful," she said. "Right now, actually there's a woman who has my picture up on her Twitter and the things that people are saying about myself and my baby. It's just complete harassment. It's not OK."
While Tagaq replied to a bevy of criticism from people, including one particular tweeter who allegedly established a petition demanding Tagaq's baby be removed from her, others showed their support for the singer:
The adult seal shown in Tagaq's "sealfie" was not clubbed to death as some animal rights groups claim but shot in the head. Since 1987 it's been illegal in Canada to harvest white-coated baby seals.
Tagaq says she's not considering legal action regarding the harassment. The singer is performing tonight in Prague as part of a European tour which concludes in Sweden on April 10. From there Tagaq will play three Canadian shows in May: one in Toronto and two in Winnipeg with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.