Mario Batali Handled Rump Roast Without Consent

Mario Batali probably believed that he was untouchable. And for the most part he was when most women were asked what they thought of him. No woman wanted to willingly handle Batali’s sausage so he cooked up a recipe that led to him losing a culinary empire just in time for Christmas. Fondling four women over a span of two decades only looks not so bad when compared to the Godfather of unwanted grab ass Weinstein. The path to forgiveness begins with admitting you’re wrong. Mario isn’t going to use a homosexual diversion tactic like Kevin Spacey, or just completely deny allegations like a few others. He’s owning up to it, offering an apology, and stepping away from millions of dollars. But he’s not slithering away from sexual harassment without being shamed by other chefs which included Anthony Bourdain.

Chef Mario Batali is the latest public figure to be accused of sexual misconduct.

In an article posted on Eater on Monday morning, four women came forward with personal stories accusing Batali of “inappropriate touching in a pattern of behavior that spans at least two decades.” Batali has since removed himself from the day-to-day operations of his restaurant empire, and ABC has asked him to step away from The Chew “while we review the allegations that have just recently come to our attention,” said a spokesperson from the network.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Batali said: “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. 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.”

Chef Tom Colicchio chimed in:

Chef Tom Colicchio entered the Twitter conversation by responding to Bourdain with a pointed statement: “And no one should be surprised.”

Colicchio also responded to another Twitter user who questioned his lack of action. The initial tweet said, “Statements like ‘no one should be surprised’ sound an awful lot like a lot of people knew and chose not to intervene… no one should stand by silent.” The chef responded stating that accusations against Batali were “well documented in Bill Buford’s book Heat.” In the book, which was published in 2007, Buford wrote about Batali’s crass and boorish behavior toward female employees at his New York City restaurant Lupa.

I’ve always been skeptical of heterosexual men who love to cook that aren’t from a foreign country. It’s almost like they’re hiding something in plain sight. Doesn’t Guy Fieri’s appearance alarm you? I wouldn’t want to stand next to anyone in the kitchen that looks like a missing member of Smash Mouth. American men are built slightly bigger on average than the rest of the world and the USA isn’t exactly known for its cuisine unless you’re including gourmet hot dogs or anything else capable of being grilled. There’s a good chance women working with a chef from France won’t be overpowered and sexually harassed in the kitchen for two reasons. Either he’s into dudes or built with the petite bone structure of a small bird. I just hope Gordon Ramsey isn’t next on the list of outed secret sexual harassers because watching him yell at women on Hell’s Kitchen for forgetting how to properly flambé brings a tear to my eye.  

It’s Batali. And it’s bad .

— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) December 11, 2017

Photo Credit: Splash News