The media is an institution. ALL institutions protect other institutions the powerful and the elite. That’s how society works. Of course there’s also breaking points where the evidence is too great to look the other way. That seems to be the case after Jason Ignacio White posted his information. There’s also the legal. Publish too early without backing material and you get sued. A lot of the wealthy and public figures take this tact….sue to sue and sue all the time. However to stay credible, once the cat is out of the bag, even the old gray lady has to speak up or it looks like genuflection. Mainstream media plays it both ways. But if the details are juicy and will drive sales…they will publish.
The dam has broken for RR. The receipts are in. Given the backdrop of massive inequality and economic destress, wars, intentional chaos, food prices, people have piled on because they’re sick and tired of the powerful getting away with shit, punching down and being regular assholes. Then you have this criminal wanker from Denmark come to LA, try and charm and scam everyone and make nice. The guy thought he was going to crush it….but it’s turning into a bummer. Nothing worse than a bummer in California…it tends to make people never return.
Its unfortunate for those who bought the tickets not necessarily knowing the history, but don’t necessarily want to be associated with RR with the recent coverage but can’t get a refund. Some probably just wanted to post and brag about the meal on IG, or just wanted to ‘try’ Noma.
It also sucks for the staff, who may have to deal with the financial fallout even though its RR’s responsibility.
I personally might have come across RR’s stories years ago, but that memory had long faded until the recent coverage.
Regarding prices of high end meals. I personally don’t eat expensively when I am near home, but I have found myself to be much more willing to splurge when I am traveling. A lot of times its going for the memory. Its said that the younger generation everywhere now invest a lot more of their income on unique experiences- traveling, dining, etc. The rationale for them is quite simple- ‘If I am not going to be able to afford a home, I don’t want to raise a family, I don’t want to work 7 days a week 18 hours a day like my grandparents used to since there is not upward mobility any more, I don’t want to give everything up for my kids, then what am I saving my money for?’
Since Amex has pulled sponsorship, Resy (owned by Amex) is now allowing refunds. (Probably comes out of the Amex PR pocket, as there much be legalese with Noma that requires the money to be paid to them as their costs started accruing a while back).
Maybe RR can now relocate his Noma pop-up to the White House. The pussy-grabber-in-chief might give him some top tips on how to stay in the game despite a personal history of inflicting horrific abuse and being hounded by the NYT.
Well…said nerd is debatably the most powerful person on the planet at the moment and if you read between the lines of what he’s saying and where he’s going it’s pretty chilling: Don’t bother saving, because I’m going to own you. Not to derail this otherwise very uplifting thread
With most new technology came the promise of more leisure…tended to turn out the opposite. Even with household appliances – they “freed up” women to go into the workplace and manage a household simultaneously. Double burden.
while [on paper] he is one of the wealthiest folks on the planet, given the dictionary definition of powerful, he is hardly the most powerful person on the planet.
of course your post did leave run for debating what the word powerful really means to you & other folks.
Agree. It takes time to build a case that can make it past legal, and getting witnesses on the record in key. When people’s rent depends on silence, these exposes take much longer.
That said, the whisper network is significant and should have resulted in far steeper drop offs in attendance than made it. For example, I heard about a certain ginger comedian’s proclivities in advance of the big story dropping and stopped bothering with him-- and I had friends who really didn’t want to believe it and clung to his “alibis” of seemingly woman-sensitive stand-up.
The more evidence of support for people to land safely when going public, the better.
I haven’t read/seen these yet, but something that has also impeded reports is the macho abusive culture of restaurant kitchens. The kind of openness demanded combined with the recognition that what was presented as “cool” and “tough” and “what it takes to be a chef” was, in fact, abuse. (Also, the people most vulnerable would be least able to come forward. So the story is sketchy bros-- not abuse.)
I will amend that part by saying he has 3 kids (male or female doesn’t matter) and as someone said online god knows what he’s like in his private life if he’s doing this kind of abuse in public. I just listened to a clip from local CBS LA news and an ex employee described how they watched the chef walk into the kitchen carrying one of his children and then put her down and start choking a line chef for cutting a strawberry incorrectly.
It is not surprising that we will see now people writing about their visits to Noma years ago and suddenly put everything towards today’s accusations. She simply didn’t like the food at Noma years ago and that is totally fine and understandable. A lot of high-end places try to push the culinary envelope and some people like it and some not - even though going to places like Noma and being surprised that you get that kind of food speaks also a lot about it). But now putting the personal dislike of the food towards the toxic environment in the Noma kitchen is quite a very, very long stretch…
