Badmovies.org Forum

In June 2020 Editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit magazine Adam Rapoport drew criticism after a photo, originally posted by his wife on Instagram in 2013, of Rapoport in racial brownface on Halloween 2004. He was wearing a t-shirt, a do-rag, silver chains, and a baseball cap embroidered with "Bronx", a reference to the New York City borough, where many Puerto Ricans reside. His leadership was simultaneously brought into question after food editor Sohla El-Waylly accused the magazine of discriminating against employees of color. That day, Rapoport announced he would step down.

A Long-Overdue Apology, and Where We Go From Here (https://www.bonappetit.com/story/where-we-go-from-here)

I've been a fan of the youtube channel for a long time so this news is kind of shocking. I was wondering why no new videos been posted in weeks and found this after a bit of research.

It's a shame that the misbehavior of one man might torpedo the entire enterprise. I'm sure lots of innocent people worked hard on that content.

So where is the line?

People can dress up as movie characters from Darth Vader and Indiana Jones to Count Dracula, not to mention the hundreds of cosplay characters like the Evangelion women, but heaven forbid someone make themselves up in a character that isn't their ethnicity. Was his 'blackface' really that offensive, given that no reasonable person would think he was intending to BE another ethnicity, or 'appropriate their culture'? Today's sociopolitical climate makes for interesting viewing, that's for sure.

Blackface performance has a particular cultural connotation in the USA that goes back to minstrel shows that existed before cinema. The intent may not be negative, and I think many of the cases of comedians doing it in sketches that weren't themselves racist are a bit ridiculous. Context is important, but anyone who dresses in blackface shouldn't be surprised by some backlash.

I've been checking up on instagram on the core group of chefs who helped launch the Bon Appétit YouTube channel. Claire Saffitz posted a statement where she is not trying to save face or to apologize. She claims to have been more or less not aware or maybe ignorant about what was going on. Brad Leone, Molly Baz, Carla Lalli Music and Andy Baraghani posted similar statements with mixed to negative comments. Based on comments some people are not "buying" it. Oh well, we shall see how this ends.

People just want to be upset by things these days and if you upset anyone or have any kind of opinion they don't like, they'll go out of their way to ruin you.