Chef Mario Batali has been accused of habitually sexually harassing and inappropriately touching women as he ruled his food empire.
Multiple anonymous women alleged in a story by online food-trade publication Eater New York that Batali had groped their breasts or buttocks, amid other allegations.
ABC kicked Batali off The Chew and Food Network says that it has halted production of a reboot of Molto Mario.
Without addressing the specific allegations, Batali acknowledged personal "failures" and pledged to try to "regain" the "respect and trust" of his fans, family, business partners and employees.
"I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted," Batali said. "That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family."
OH jesus, now its spreading like wildfire to our chefs? After the Guy blinds, now this.
ReplyDeleteI am going back to watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.....
Oh how is it @truth? I was going to add it to the rotation after the crown..
DeleteCreeper
ReplyDeleteI hate his shoes.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to think there's a concerted effort to push the attention to those who acted "inappropriately," to keep it off the serious predators.
ReplyDeleteI never met an Italian man I didn't fall in love with. Until Mario. There was something off about him. He looks more Irish than Italian, believe me. Sad. He is married to the Coach heiress and has two sons. They're never satisfied.
ReplyDeleteMs. Boo, lots of Italians have blond or red hair. They are usually from the Northern regions...like Spain. Having a ginger fetish myself, he is not attractive at all despite his culinary skills!
DeleteOh Mario, you creepy pig. Always gave off that creeper vibe agree with the vics on that one.
ReplyDeleteWonder if this will put a dent in the absurdly long Eataly lines.
Wtf is up with this now standard "yes it's true and I'm sorry" template that all these predators are using since Louis CK? It sounds robotic.
ReplyDeleteShouldn’t surprise anyone really, I mean he looks exactly like a real life Fat Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.
ReplyDeleteLOL! he sure as heck does!
DeleteWeinstein, Spacey and Cosby must be glad their happy asses aren't being mentioned as much. They need to be in jail, not at a "spa."
ReplyDeleteOk Enty, now bust out the Bobby Flay blinds. You know the ol' Flayster has some stuff that has to be ready to come out soon.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that many of the celebrity chefs have been inappropriate in some way or another...a lot of them have an air of superiority and obviously huge egos. Doesn't surprise me in the least about Mario.
ReplyDelete@LizOz I LOVE it. I finished the season this morning. It is funny, smart, dirty, both my husband and I enjoyed it. I am not usually a comedy fan, and really kind of a prude when it comes to comedy. But the way it was written here, is brilliant. She does an incredible job. I would definitely check it out! (My husband is quite a bit younger than me, we have been married 18 years in a few days, but we often differ in our TV likes, this was one we both loved)
ReplyDeleteIsn’t cocaine a staple in kitchens? I wonder if that has anything to do with chefs being aggressive.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Anthony bourdain’s Twitter. He’s talking about how he knew about Batali and some chick is going off about the accusations
ReplyDeletePalate cleanser: Chef Michael Symon is one of finest men I ever worked with/for & a true respecter of women. Without exception.
ReplyDeleteLots of clues about Mario's behavior in the book Heat by Bill Buford. Fantastic read by the way: http://amzn.to/2z1RTvK
ReplyDeleteIt's the same problem Al Franken has: violations of the first two rules of harassment.
ReplyDeleteRule 1: Be attractive. Women aren't complaining about George Clooney.
Rule 2: Don't be unattractive.
I did not invent this, just repeating.
@Gordon, sounds like you agree with those rules. I'm pretty sure Sylvester Stallone, Matt Laurer, Ben Affleck & Ed Westwick don't fit into your rules, but they're still on the known Sexual Predator List. You know why? Because they lacked of CONSENT.
ReplyDeleteBTW, you might want to talk to Vanessa Marquez about Clooney. Go troll somewhere else.
Gropes? Big deal. I dont consider it a crime until the second knuckle disappears.
ReplyDeleteWithout consent? Doubtful. ;)
DeletePeople get groped all the time. When i had long hair i'd get geooed by old broads at clibs who were looking to smoke weed. Its an "ugh" moment, not a "I have been abused! I need a safe space and the police!" moment.
DeleteI expect to get groped at a bar/club/party as do my gfs. That's just some loaded a##hole who's egotistical enough to think it's ok when no sign is apparent - if I want some guy to grope me, I have no problem letting them know.
DeleteAt work/with ppl in authority, it's entirely different & never ok if not consensual.
I'd report someone for trying to force themselves no matter the situation. Other than that meh. Move on.
SDAUNTIE: I know, hon. My baby daddy was from Northern Italy and had blondish-reddish hair and big blue eyes! When we found out the little panatone was on the way, he wanted to marry me. The problem was, his wife and kids thought that wasn't a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI loves ya count, but the women who geood you didn’t have the power to hire or fire you. So it’s not the same. What is geood?
ReplyDeleteOh, I see, you meant groped.
ReplyDeleteShawn, your wit is only exceeded by your lack of creativity.
Deletethat is awesome. I shall upvote for maximum exposure™ ⬆
DeleteBayAreaGirl,
ReplyDeleteHow long has Matt Lauer gotten away with it? Stallone's accusations are at least 30 years old. I don't know who Ed Westwick is, and the ones against Ben are mild, considering his reputation as a horn dog. The same for Clooney. None of these guys would have been shamed were it not for the Harvey drama.
You're confusing trolling with being realistic. Al Franken watched other men around him, good-looking men, get away with much worse than his foibles. He thought that his inferior fame granted him some free grabs. He was wrong.
I must say when I got to this headline my immediate first thought was how much of 'this' is ok if assailant is sexy. it's a genuine argument
DeleteDena wrote: "I would imagine that many of the celebrity chefs have been inappropriate in some way or another...."
ReplyDeleteRead Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. Rough, very sexual banter and some grabbing are standard in commercial kitchens, according to him. There's a good anecdote about a chef that would grab his ass, and how Bourdain ended that one day.
But being a Food Network star is different from serious stardom. I'd imagine that Bobby Flay could get away with a certain level of gropiness among some foodie women. He's good looking. But Mario could not even pull that off, and I can't think of any FN stars who could do it in general. There's no red carpet leading into the kitchen.
Note for BayAreaGirl: This is not an endorsement of bad kitchen behavior. Observation is not the same as approval.
@Gordon,I think you are wrong about the Food Network Stars and the level of adoration they get. A small, loyal following acts like they personally know them, unlike movie stars who play characters. FN Stars are like Rock stars to their fans.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cinabun.
ReplyDelete@Gordon, you're still wrong about being good looking giving you a pass. I saw the Hillarie Burton incident when MTV aired it back in the day. Even as a teenager, I could tell Hillarie was not okay with it, but Ben was very popular & powerful. It's all about consent. More women may be attracted to attractive men thus the groping may be consensual, but these guys knew it wasn't consensual. That's why many of them threatened or retaliated against their victims.
@BayAreaGirl You have to admit though that most of the men who have been accused are quite unattractive. Apart from Affleck is there anyone else who might be considered attractive on the list that has come out. These men knew that only power, influence and riches could get them any type of interest from these women. It's like how you see those extremely old, rich, ugly men dating young models. The men want the beauty and the women want the riches. The women who aren't interested in the wealth or opportunities available are probably the ones who were harassed.
ReplyDelete@bayareagirl
ReplyDelete"Even as a teenager, I could tell Hillarie was not okay with it, but Ben was very popular & powerful."
Why, whenever a woman is groped or harassed or flirted with by an unattractive man or older man they consider beneath their status, do they always seem to make a point of saying something like, "He was like 30 years older than me--gross!" So you always wonder, what if he wasn't thirty years older and what if he wasn't fat or unattractive? A big part of the offense is simply the insult to status. How dare this ugly troll think I'm within his reach?
Ben Affleck waiting until the cameras go on to steal a grope is also an insult to status. It's the same sneaky and sleazy move that Al Franken and Larry King use. It shows weakness and lack of confidence which are a huge turn off.
--
Separately, its interesting that the Oscar winners like Jennifer Lawrence aren't complaining about what they had to do (or agreed to do) for Weinstein.
Saw this today & just had to share. Maybe Mike or Gordon are Jose Conseco.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jose-canseco-icky-tweet_us_5a3056c5e4b07ff75afe86c5?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
@Mike, so you think it's okay for a man who is 30 yrs older than a teenager to flirt with or hit on her? ok, Roy Moore. I guess you'll be joining the sexual predator parade soon. A better question is: why aren't they hitting on age appropriate women?
@Acad, I can't speak for all women, but I and every woman I know, do not want any of it in the workplace. The underlying theme with all these predators is that they feel a sense of entitlement to women's (or young boys') bodies. They abuse their power to get what they feel they are entitled to. It's an exaggeration of how broader society views women's bodies. Until that changes, we're going to see more of this predation.