Adam Rapoport resigned from his job as the editor after the photo from 2013 resurfaced online. The staff have described a culture of racism at the magazine and have placed allegations saying that non-white people weren’t paid, or were paid less, for video appearances. Publisher Condé Nast has denied these allegations.
The after-affects started on 31 May, when Mr. Rapoport wrote a blog about how Bon Appetit was covering the protests around George Floyd’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Three days later, journalist Korsha Wilson said the post was empty. She has also stated, “Black women and women of color who were gaslit, fired, and their ideas used by y’all”.
On Monday a screenshot of a 2013 Instagram photo of Mr. Rapoport was posted on Twitter. Mr. Rapoport’s wife had posted this photo on her private account, it showed him wearing a durag, baseball cap, and chains. His wife tagged the photo “Boricua” – a reference to Puerto Ricans.
Blackface or Dark face are words that are used when someone dresses up in a way to evoke a racial or cultural stereotype.
After the photo was circulated, a number of current and former Bon Appetit staff members publicly condemned Mr. Rapoport on social media, and shared their own experiences of racism at their place of work in that outlet.
In a statement posted on Instagram, Mr. Rapoport said “From an extremely ill-conceived Halloween costume 16 years ago to my blind spots as an editor, I’ve not championed an inclusive vision.”
Carla Lalli Music, a chef and former food director at the said magazine also took to her twitter account and tweeted “didn’t do enough to make sure we covered Black cuisine and Black chefs in particular, and BIPOC [Black, indigenous and people of colour] recipes in general, I accepted the brand’s definition of what the ‘mainstream’ food trends were,” she said. “I spoke up… sometimes. I should have done more.”
