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CANBERRA - US pop singer Pink has backed down from her call to boycott Australian wool over animal cruelty claims, admitting she failed to fully research the issue.
The singer, who has sold around 200,000 tickets for dozens of shows in her upcoming April tour of Australia, appeared in an animal rights group video last year branding the practice of sheep mulesing "sadistic".
But today, Pink admitted she was misinformed about the issue and had failed to do enough research.
"I probably could have done a lot more researched on my own," she told the Nine Network.
"That's the lesson I'm taking from this.
"My message was, in my mind, boycott animal cruelty - not an entire industry, not Australia, obviously, because it's my favourite country.
"Then going back, I was speaking without thinking and I actually did say ban Australia, which is bullshit. It's not something that I can agree with."
Pink made the video as part of the US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) three-year campaign to end mulesing.
The animal husbandry practice involves cutting skin folds from sheeps' backsides to protect them against fly strike.
The wool industry has agreed to phase out mulesing by 2010 while research continues into alternatives - a fact Pink said PETA never revealed to her.
"Again, that's something I should have researched on my own. I take full responsibility for not being 100 per cent prepared and researched," she said.
"I have nothing against farmers. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, I don't want to hurt anyone, I just want the animals to hurt less."
She said she was prepared to meet farmers and industry representatives during her April tour.
"I don't want to watch a sheep being cut with no anaesthesia, that's not going to change my mind, but I'm definitely open minded to the debate," she said.
PETA brushed off Pink's backflip and said she continued to condemn mulesing.
"The fact remains that if the industry employed the responsible practices used by many farmers in Australia, which they could and should do tomorrow, this campaign would be over," vice president of campaigns Dan Mathews said.
PETA's campaign has hurt the Australian wool industry, with some American and British clothing retailers agreeing to the boycott.
But many big retailers, including Italian clothing giant Benetton, have refused to back the campaign.
- AAP
