Celebrity chef apologizes for Hitler remark

Celebrity chef apologizes for Hitler remark - Mario Batali Apologizes for Comments Comparing Bankers to Hitler, Stalin. Celebrity chef and restaurant owner Mario Batali apologized for comparing bankers to Hitler and Stalin, while Wall Street executives reacted with angry comments and calls for a boycott.

"So 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," Batali said. "They're not heroes, but they are people that had a really huge effect on the way the world is operating."

Batali made the comment yesterday at a panel sponsored by Time magazine and was quoted in a story posted on Forbes.com. The website said it had taken the comment directly from a transcript provided by Time.

Dozens of users of the Bloomberg terminal's interactive DINE function, where they can rate and comment on restaurants, posted sharply worded denunciations. Many also called for a boycott of Batali's approximately 20 establishments, which include the Manhattan power restaurants Babbo and Del Posto.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Batali apologized for the remarks through his spokeswoman, Pamela Lewy.

"To remove any ambiguity about my appearance at yesterday's Time Person of the Year panel, I want to apologize for my remarks. It was never my intention to equate our banking industry with Hitler and Stalin, two of the most evil, brutal dictators in modern history."

via: yahoo