Once a culinary king of the hill. Any thoughts?
Yes. Good.
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Good riddance to bad rubbish.
But I learned a ton from him and probably have all of his books and ate at Babbo twice.
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For the benefit of younger readers:
… the chef who, before the #MeToo era, was a multimedia star. He wrote cookbooks, appeared on daytime television, was a regular on “Iron Chef America,” had his own cookware and was known virtually everywhere he went for his iconic footwear: orange Crocs.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/05/10/batali-not-guilty-verdict-sexual-assault/
Sigh. The accuser - while probably (according to me) telling the truth about the assault - presented as pretty unreliable. I’m disappointed but not surprised at this outcome.
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This thread is like groundhog’s day, with the same players. The original thread got so contentious it caused our beloved @bulavinaka to never post on FTC again. I was and am with @catholiver on this one… F Batali.
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I read once that if you’re innocent ask for the judge only and if you’re innocent ask for a jury. So maybe it was unproveable.
It was a ridiculously weak case.
Much of the evidence in the trial came from two years’ worth of Ms. Tene’s text messages, which sometimes showed her being flippant about selling the photos or getting money from Mr. Batali. They revealed incidents in which she lied to get out of a gym membership and, in an effort to avoid jury duty, told another court that she was clairvoyant. Once she was seated on that jury, she violated court rules by searching the defendant’s background and texting a friend that she thought he was guilty.
The judge noted those incidents and her disregard for the courts, in addition to photos from the night at the bar that showed her smiling after her first encounter with Mr. Batali. Three minutes later, she took another round of selfies with the chef.
“Her reaction or lack thereof to the alleged assault is telling,” the judge said.
How about if you’re guilty?
Should have read “guilty.” Thanks, small h.
Whether this accusation was true or not—and Batali may well have no idea whether it is, since he was plastered—he generally admitted to such behavior.
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.
And he was the first chef accused of that sort of thing to get out of the business.
I’ve always figured the Bastianich family forced him out.
Batali got out of business with Ken Friedman as well, and Friedman was accused of worse things and did not divest until much later, if in fact he ever has.