A Weinstein in the kitchen

There is a major sex scandal in the United States involving the famous Italian chef Mario Batali who is accused of forcing female collaborators to take part in his “parties”.

On May 20, the American CBS network news program 60 Minutes dedicated a long segment to a sex scandal involving Chef Mario Batali, the partner, or ex-partner, of Joe Bastianichin owning and operating over 20 restaurants around the world.

The scandal was big news and correspondent Anderson Cooper came down very hard on Batali forcing him to step back from his profession and, above all, away from the company he had with Bastianich. Cooper interviewed nine ex-collaborators who told him about the organization of parties in which women were forced to participate in an “inappropriate” way, to put it delicately (something which Batali certainly was not). In one case, a young woman, who did not want her face to be seen, said she had been drugged and abused against her will, which amounts to a textbook case of rape.

This became a very big scandal because in the US because Batali was a famous celebrity also on TV where for years he was a host on the popular ABC network program The Chew.

The fallout came quickly with ABC removing Batali from the program’s next edition and, even worse, the Las Vegas hotel The Venitian announcing that Batali and Bastianich’s restaurant in the hotel would close down in July 27, forcing Bastianich to personally write to its 350 employees to inform them they were out of work.

And that was just the start.

The actions that Batali himself defined as deeply inappropriate, and which I would define as intolerable, undefendable and indecent, might also have legal consequences under US law and he may end up practicing his profession behind bars in a federal prison.

Although the scandal was reported by the La Repubblica daily, I don’t think it got enough coverage by the press in Italy. It also opened a not-so-small Pandora’s Box from which accusations flew in the US regarding how women were treated in the restaurant world and Batali has become the Weinstein of the cuisine circuit.

It would be nice if things would change once and for all. It would be a victory for all and a step forward towards respect and civility, which is an argument that has been made time and again but if there is a need to repeat it then something is not working.