Batali vs. the Bankers
Mario Batali, feel the wrath of the 1 percenters. The ginger-haired and orange-shod celebrity chef and owner of fancy New York eateries Babbo and Del Posto caused an uproar among Wall Streeters when he talked about bankers, Hitler and Stalin in the same sentence.
Mario Batali, feel the wrath of the 1 percenters. The ginger-haired and orange-shod celebrity chef and owner of fancy New York eateries Babbo and Del Posto caused an uproar among Wall Streeters when he talked about bankers, Hitler and Stalin in the same sentence.
Batali’s zinger happened at a Time magazine-sponsored lunch Tuesday, and a reporter from Forbes didn’t miss the chance to stir the pot with his target demographic later that day. By Thursday, the blowback was in full effect, as angry bankers took to the Web to exact revenge. Batali backpedaled, but he may have to do more than he’s done to win back the offended financiers and their mouth-watering expense accounts. — KA
Wait, before you go…Los Angeles Times:
Channeling some of the anger of Occupy Wall Street, Batali bemoaned the influence of the financial industry with a rather inapt comparison:
“The ways the bankers have kind of toppled the way money is distributed and taken most of it into their hands is as good as Stalin or Hitler and the evil guys.”
This did not sit well with the many bankers who take their clients to Batali establishments such as Babbo and Del Posto — and they made their ire known swiftly.
In the restaurant review section of the Bloomberg financial network — the online home of Wall Street — Batali’s restaurants were bombarded with negative reviews. By Thursday morning, all of the five most reviewed restaurants were Batali owned, and nearly every one of those reviews said “don’t go.”
If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface. We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.
Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.
Support Truthdig
Reversing climate change need not mean emptying our pockets and tightening our belts.
Venezuela's Juan Guaido is just the latest in a long line of reactionaries whose record our political establishment has tried to whitewash.
Forbes giddily reports on "Bolsonaro fever," while The Wall Street Journal endorses the far-right politician as a "reformer."
Jeff Bezos and his ilk are gobbling up the nation's newspapers. We should all be concerned for the future of our democracy.
Mindlessly repeating sensationalist FBI framing isn't journalism—it’s fear-mongering.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.