Jason Momoa made a splash last week when he cut off his trademark braids to protest "single-use plastics" like water bottles. But the Aquaman star hasn’t always felt this way, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.
In a Sept. 6 Instagram video, Momoa noted he was shaving his head because "plastic bottles, plastic forks, all that shit, goes into our land, goes into our ocean," adding "plastic bottles are ridiculous."
But a Washington Free Beacon review found that Momoa has a history of using the bottles he now despises. Momoa took a slug from a plastic water bottle at Oz Comic-Con 2013 in Perth, Australia, and again at Puerto Rico Comic-Con 2015:
One undated image shared on Twitter shows Momoa greedily guzzling from a plastic water bottle, with three other bottles lined up in front of him:
https://twitter.com/Landon_Wilson_/status/1202310932598263811?s=20&t=AZjGCwtoV5b08gM9ULL2Ug
In another, a smiling Momoa clutches a large water bottle as if each sip wasn’t killing a sea turtle.
Both James Wan and Jason Momoa will host the #Aquaman panel at #DCFanDome this August (@instagram) pic.twitter.com/6WPV7yLsEu
— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) June 16, 2020
Momoa first came out against plastic water bottles in April 2019 with another hair-related stunt. The Game of Thrones star then shaved his beard for the first time in seven years, in a video encouraging people to "switch to INFINITELY RECYCLABLE aluminum. Water in cans, not plastic." That same month, Momoa launched Mananalu, a company that sells water in aluminum cans. As of this writing, a 12-pack of Mananalu goes for $27.99 on Amazon Prime.
"Now that I’ve become Aquaman," Momoa said when Mananalu launched, "there are a lot of things I want to do to try to save the Earth."
But canning water may not do much to help the environment. A July 2022 McKinsey study found that aluminum cans produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as plastic water bottles.
Momoa is hardly the only celebrity with weirdly strong thoughts about water. Disney Channel star and Biden supporter Vanessa Hudgens came out against drinking water in October 2021, the Free Beacon reported. Zendaya, who stars in Euphoria alongside the much-cooler Sydney Sweeney, told Harper’s Bazaar that she "hate[s] water."