Vivienne Westwood backtracks after 'poor people should eat less' advice

Fashion legend Vivienne Westwood has denied allegations that she instructed poor people to “eat less” in order to afford organic food. The comments, which she claims were misconstrued, were made at a GMO forum on Wednesday.

“My comments were related to eating less meat,” she said in an effort to set the record straight.

“People are eating far too much factory farmed meat and junk food which is bad for you and not providing the nutrients you need. You can source good food and farmed meat for less money,” Westwood told the Huffington Post on Thursday.

Dame Westwood argued that her comments were taken out of context by the general public. The remarks were made in response to a question from a BBC Radio 5 Live interviwer.

However, her statement doesn’t fully corroborate with what is on the recording. While the health consequences of eating too much meat were certainly discussed, it is not obvious that her comments were made in direct relation to the same issue.

In a separate statement released on Thursday, Dame Westwood said: “I’m deeply upset if anyone would think I don’t care about starving people or don’t understand the terrible situation some people are in, quite the opposite, I have spent years campaigning for social and human rights issues."