Unless you’ve been living under a rock: you’ve probably heard of That Vegan Teacher. But who is she? And why does she keep going viral on TikTok?

Otherwise known as Kadie Karen Diekmeyer, That Vegan Teacher is an elementary school teacher and vegan advocate.

She posts educational videos on activism and veganism on social media, garnering millions of likes. Moreover, she regularly promotes veganism through song and has a Spotify playlist of her original creations.

That Vegan Teacher had garnered a staggering 1.6 million followers on TikTok before she was banned.

That Vegan Teacher’s viral TikTok video

Recently, That Vegan Teacher attracted global media attention after urging celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to go vegan.

In the video, Diekmeyer sings the celeb a song, telling him ‘hurting animals is wrong’. She adds: “And if you call me a donut, that’s fine, as long as you’re vegan from now on.”

In response, Ramsay posted a video nodding along to the song whilst eating lettuce. He called her a ‘vegan donut’ and at the end of the video, took a large bite from a burger.

‘Beef burgers were consumed while making this TikTok’ was the caption. Later posting the video on his Instagram account, Ramsay said: “It’s an honor a song was written about me….and now back to my beef burger.”

Controversy

Despite That Vegan Teacher’s popularity – some of her content has stirred controversy online.

Most of the criticism comes from Diekmeyer’s comparison of animal agriculture to the Holocaust – as well as her use of terms such as ‘meat is murder’.

Earlier this year, she came under fire for arguing that ‘coming out’ as a vegan is ‘more special’ than coming out as gay.

“Coming out as a vegan animal rights activist, as someone who cares beyond themself, is much more special than it is to come out as a member of the LGBTQ community,” she said.

“Coming out as a member of the LGBTQ community is an entirely selfish act. It’s talking about you only. It’s not talking about the things you’re going to do to better the world.”

Banned from TikTok

More recently, TikTok banned That Vegan Teacher for ‘violating community guidelines’.

The move followed a petition urging the social media platform to delete the activist’s account. It has garnered more than 20,000 signatures at the time of writing.

“Being a Vegan or Vegetarian is a healthful lifestyle that is a choice for some people,” the petition reads.

“However it isn’t always the best option medically or financially. The Creator known as That Vegan Teacher has violated multiple community guidelines in various videos, duets, and sounds.

“She’s a former certificated educator however has no background in veterinary nor human medicine. She has made blatantly racist, bigoted, discriminatory statements against anyone who doesn’t view veganism her way and her way alone.

“She has promoted multiple films that are dangerous to children given TikToks 13 yr old age requirement and many children under that age access it on a daily basis. These videos show violent depictions of animal slaughter in graphic detail.

“Her targets have included minors under 18, the LGBTQ+ Community, Person’s with disabilities, people of the black community, various religions and more. Multiple reports have been made against her content yet her platform remains active.”