How many of you would eat Mountain Gorilla? How about Siberian Tiger, Rhino, or Panda? Not many right? Then why would you eat Bluefin Tuna?

A group of Prius-driving celebs has sent a letter to Nobu chef Nobu Matsuhisa asking him to cease the sale of critically endangered Bluefin Tuna from the menus of his 20-some-odd restaurants.

"As customers and fans of Nobu, we feel strongly that blue fin tuna must be completely removed from your menu due to its perilous position as an extremely endangered animal...The possibility that the magnificent bluefin tuna, one of the fastest creatures on the planet, could be extinct in as little as four years, is a tragedy."

[source]

The letter stops short of an outright call for boycott, but the Japanese are a subtle people and know how to take a hint. The effort is being organized by British heiress Kate Goldsmith yeah, yeah, of the Rothschild fortune. She could probably buy the entire restaurant chain and ban the Bluefin herself. Some of the celeb signees: Stephen Fry, Elle Macphereson, Sting, Alicia Silverstone, Charlize Theron, Sienna Miller, Laura Bailey, Jemima Khan, Trudie Styler, Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Stuart Townsend, and other names that we like to put here to improve our Google search results. They also dropped Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver's names as celebrity chefs who have stopped serving Bluefin in their restaurants. Let's hope that Nobu Matsuhisa and his good friend and Nobu investor Robert Dinero feel the dishonor of their stubborn adherence to ensuring the extinction of the most noble species of Tuna and change their tune.

Allow us to beat to the punch some of the undereducated wannabe contrarians that will inevitably be calling the celebrity activists out for their pretentiousness, self-importance, and ego issues that make them think that we care what they think. "How dare they tell us what to eat?" these contrarians will say. "We don't care what they think." The truth is that people DO care what celebrities think. That is why celebrities get paid so well. The proof that people care about what celebrities think is that they take the 15 seconds to post on blogs that they don't care what celebrities think. Does this mean that celebrities opinions are better than the "common man's?" No, it doesn't. But celebrities bring attention to the issue, so I am all for their windbaggery.

Oh, and most of the people that were not at all moved by the above paragraph--you probably don't have enough money to eat at Nobu anyway. *fart noise*

Nobu and co are expected to respond to the celebrity letter on monday...just in time for...WORLD OCEANS DAY...

Waitaminute. I think I have just fallen victim to a clever media ruse on the part of Kate Goldsmith and friends and Nobu. I bet you all a cucumber, avocado, and jalapeno sushi roll that Nobu announces that they will either be banning the Bluefin on Monday or they will be doing it very soon...then we will see if they put their money where their mouth is.

Who wants a piece of that action?

--El Tiburon