Mario Batali accused of sexual misconduct by four women
Celebrity chef Mario Batali steps away from his restaurant empire and has been removed from co-hosting duties on ABC’s “The Chew” following sexual misconduct allegations by four women.
Yet another one of Mario Batali’s former employees has come forward with accusations of sexual harassment against the celebrity chef.
Siobhan Thompson, a comedic actress whose IMDb credits include “CollegeHumor Originals,” “Adam Ruins Everything” and “Broad City,” told CBS News on Monday that Batali inappropriately touched her breasts when she was a hostess at his upscale Del Posto eatery in New York City.
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The same day, she also took to Twitter with accusations that she witnessed Batali being “very handsy” with his staff.
“I worked at Del Posto [his fanciest restaurant in NYC] and can confirm that not only was Mario Batali very handsy, they would often serve us pasta with cut up hot dogs as family meal. Bye bish,” she wrote.
“It’s fun when the ones you’re waiting for come out,” Thompson later commented.
Del Posto, meanwhile, is the same restaurant Batali had bragged about at the 2017 Fast Company Innovation Festival in October, citing its largely female staff, whom he claimed hired “not because they have a vagina; it’s because they are the smartest people for the job.”
At the same event, he also said he believed a “reckoning” was coming for sexual harassers in the restaurant industry.
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Multiple accusations of sexual misconduct against Batali were first brought to light on Monday morning in an exposé published by Eater NY, in which four women accused the chef of groping and inappropriate behavior. A former manager for the Spotted Pig restaurant, a celebrity hot spot in New York City, further claimed that she once saw Batali try to kiss and grope an unconscious woman during an after-hours party. (She, along with several other women, have also accused Spotted Pig owner Ken Friedman — a friend of Batali’s — of sexual misconduct.)
Another employee of Batali, Holly Gunderson, told the Washington Post on Tuesday that, at an Oscars-themed party in 2010, an intoxicated Batali told her he’d like to see her “naked” in his hot tub and later touched her vagina and buttocks over her clothes. Another woman told the Post that Batali propositioned her to “make out” in his car upon leaving that same night.
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Following Eater’s initial report, Batali issued an apology to the people he had “mistreated or hurt,” and admitted that “much of the behavior” in the first accusers’ accounts “does match up with ways I have acted.”
ABC later confirmed to Fox News that the network has asked him to step down from his co-hosting gig on “The Chew,” and the Food Network has since stated that a revival of his “Molto Mario” series, which was planned for 2018, is now on hold.