The Eater is a site I just heard about, because they broke a story about how Mario Batali is (allegedly) an unhinged sexual pervert who sexually assaulted four women that we know about. Here’s his apology”
“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. I have work to do to try to regain the trust of those I have hurt and disappointed. For this reason, I am going to step away from day-to-day operations of my businesses. We built these restaurants so that our guests could have fun and indulge, but I took that too far in my own behavior. I won’t make that mistake again. I want any place I am associated with to feel comfortable and safe for the people who work or dine there. I know my actions have disappointed many people. The successes I have enjoyed are owned by everyone on my team. The failures are mine alone. To the people who have been at my side during this time — my family, my partners, my employees, my friends, my fans — I am grateful for your support and hopeful that I can regain your respect and trust. I will spend the next period of time trying to do that.”
Wow. An apology that comes across as an apology and an apology that says “yeah, I did it.” That’s refreshing. Four women over the course of 20 years sounds quaint and borderline heroic based on what we’ve learned about sexual assault in 2017, but Batali has to go regardless, obviously. I never watched his show, because I tried once and he was sweating the whole time and that’s not something that makes me want to eat Italian food. Indian food, maybe.
