Russell Simmons, the hip-hop mogul known for brokering peace talks between feuding rap artist, has been at the center of secret negotiations between KFC and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says a source, but it looks like some feathers might still be ruffled.

KFC, which PETA has been pressuring to stop scalding live birds in the defeathering tank, among other practices, had refused to meet with the animal-rights group for years.

Then Reverend Al Sharpton narrated a grisly PETA video exposé on the fast-food chain, which was screened for horrified customers outside inner-city KFCs across the country this winter. Fearful of losing their urban market, KFC shuttled their COO and other execs to New York for meetings with longtime PETA advisor Simmons and Sharpton’s reps, in exchange for a moratorium on public screenings of the Sharpton KFC video, according to the source.

“Russell and the Rev. Sharpton reiterated PETA’s goal, that KFC merely follow the advice of their own humane advisory board and phase out cruelties such as forced rapid growth, which causes crippling leg deformities,” an insider says. “KFC countered that their humane board had almost no changes to suggest.” But PETA is saying that KFC misrepresented the claims of its own advisors.

Spokesmen for PETA and KFC couldn’t be reached for comment, but if a truce isn’t reached, says the source, PETA will relaunch KentuckyFriedCruelty.com, and revive not only Rev Sharpton’s video but will also run a blistering new commercial, starring Russell Simmons himself.

Source