Celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain and Tom Colicchio took to social media to speak out about the allegations of sexual misconduct against fellow chef Mario Batali.
“No. Trust me. Monday is really gonna suck,” Bourdain began in a series of tweets on Sunday, December 10, referring to the forthcoming story about Batali, who appeared on a 2005 episode of his show No Reservations. “It’s where you stand when the people you care about and admire do awful things that matters. Keeping head down and hoping it goes away? No.”
“It’s Batali. And it’s bad,” Bourdain continued on Monday, December 11.
“And no one should be surprised,” Colicchio responded to Bourdain’s tweet.
“It was well documented in Bill Buford’s book Heat,” the Top Chef judge wrote in response to a Twitter user who accused him and others of being aware of the allegations against Batali and not speaking up sooner.
Colicchio also directed Twitter users to a blog post he wrote last month about sexual harassment in restaurants titled “An Open Letter to (Male) Chefs.”
As previously reported, The Chew host was accused of sexual misconduct by four women in an exclusive report by Eater published on Monday, December 11. One of the accusations, made by a female chef who never worked for the restaurant owner, claims Batali rubbed her breasts with his bare hands at an event 10 years ago after she spilled wine on her shirt.
The other three women in the report worked for Batali, and made allegations that include the chef grabbing their breasts or groping them.
Bourdain also denied keeping the secret about Batali.
“I only started hearing shit a few weeks ago,” Bourdain tweeted on Monday. “I’ve been out of the biz for nearly 20 years. But please. Go on.”
