The Human Meat Project is art, not cannibalism
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on December 14, 2022 at 22:54
- 2 min read
- By Natalie WADE, AFP USA
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"Have y'all ever heard about this? The Human Meat Project, people for people, I thought this was a joke until I started digging some more and realized this is real," says a woman in a TikTok video with more than 4.5 million views.
The speaker, Jessica McElroy, claims the organization is promoting cannibalism as a way to combat famine and global warming.
"'One body can feed up to 40 people,'" McElroy says, reading from The Human Meat Project's website. "'Together we could end world starvation, overpopulation and climate change.'"
The video has spread to other social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.
But The Human Meat Project is not actually seeking such donations -- nor is it promoting cannibalism.
"This is purely a conceptual art project and will not be acted out in real life," the website's terms and conditions section says.
However, the project has still created confusion and concern among social media users.
"People have lost their minds," one TikTok user said in a comment.
"I googled about the human meat project and it's real," said another.
The Human Meat Project says in its disclaimer that it "encourages the public to read the policy and shows how company services' limit our rights in the services they provide." The website creates donor cards for those who register, sharing some of their personal information.
AFP reached out to McElroy and The Human Meat Project for comment, but responses were not forthcoming.
AFP has debunked other widely shared TikTok posts here and here.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
