The news last week that exterminators would be given permission to shoot bunnies at Leisure World brought with it a storm of controversy. But for a small group of Southern Californians, it also brought back painful memories and an unwanted spotlight. These are people whose family trees include bunnies.
As you might expect, living with such a heritage is not easy, though many say it's better than it was 40 years ago. Even so, they say they still endure bunny-related taunts while finding it hard to hail cabs and get car insurance.
One such person who has lived with this is OC Weeklymusic critic Bunny Seigal. Not surprisingly, Bunny has never talked about—indeed never mentioned—his heritage to anyone at the Weekly. Still, we asked him to sit down and talk with us about what it has meant to grow up and live as the filthy vermin he is.
OC Weekly: When did you first notice you were . . . different? Bunny Seigal: What? Yes, children can be very cruel. Were their taunts, generally, having to do with your eating of your young? Or were they more specific, you know, having to do with your reeking?
What the hell are you talking about?
So you've had to deal with these stereotypes from a very early age. Did they devastate you then? Did you think because your name was Bunny that you weren't as good as the other kids?
Bunny? Lowery, my name's Buddy. You know that. B-u-D-D-y. What the hell are you doing?
Is that why you became a musician?
Is what why I became a musician?
Indeed. Has it always been a struggle? Or have there been people along the way who have tried to understand that God made you this way and there's nothing you can do about it? Or are people generally too sickened by you?
Why are you . . . I thought you said you wanted to borrow a porn tape.
Well, since you bring up God, I feel I have to ask: Have you ever had an occasion to ask God if your kind have the capacity to believe in God—you know, “Why me, God? Why did you make me this way? Why didn't you just have someone drop me off a bridge in a sack or throw me under the wheels of a fast-moving truck? Why must I live as this filthy, loathsome thing that's really good for nothing except spreading disease and filth and degradation?” Do you ever just do that?
All right, this is getting old.
How much of a struggle has it been for you to deal with your own natural impulses? Going to the bathroom, for example: How long did it take you to finally train yourself to go indoors?
Shut up.
And by indoors I mean in a toilet.
Shut up!
Or did you ever learn? Are you going to the bathroom right now?
Shut the hell up!
Is it within your feeble mental capacity to understand that most people are sickened by the mere sight of you? Do you think this has solely to do with being Bunny, or do you think that you bring with you something else, outside of your Bunniness, a quality that is equally revolting?
I'm gonna kick your ass.
If there was one thing that you would like people to know about you and other Bunnies like you, what would that be?
That I'm gonna kick your ass. Oh, that and we just want to be free to live in peace.
