Casey Kasem: Animal Activist

How many of you, like me, grew up listening to Casey Kasem every weekend, counting down the hits on American Top 40? How many of you watched Scooby-Doo and his human BFF, Shaggy on the tube? Whether you knew it or not, Casey Kasem was Shaggy’s voice.

(Also – and I know you don’t know this – Scooby and his nephew Scrappy were my “imaginary” friends as a child. But I digress.)

After a long illness and a sad family feud, Kasem died this weekend – on Father’s Day, unfortunately. I can’t believe I didn’t know this about him, but many obituaries mentioned that he was a “hard core” vegan.

Now, I take word of celebrity vegans with a grain of salt, but Kasem was apparently the real deal. According to the Washington Post:

“He was a vegan who turned down commercial work for Kellogg’s because cereal is consumed with

[cow’s] milk.”

And ThinkProgress.org says this of his voiceover work:

“Kasem quit [Scooby-Doo] in 1995 when he was asked to voice Shaggy for a Burger King commercial. He would not agree to return until 2002, when producers agreed to have Shaggy become a vegetarian. Shaggy, according to reports, was the first cartoon character to follow a vegetarian diet.”

I am grateful to have grown up with Casey Kasem’s voice in my ear. And now, I am grateful that the movement had a loud voice for the animals; they and we will be the lesser for his loss.

Photo credit: Alan Light via Flickr