I know it’s trendy to bash the “rich” but those generalized statements are also not really helpful as they aren’t really backed up by anything and just useless venting
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The people being “bashed” here, or rather, taken to task for their lack of morals, are an abusive POS chef and his customers, who evidently don’t give a shit. They also happen to be rich 
I won’t go into cause/correlation here.
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My understanding is that they’ve already paid upfront for their meal. I read yesterday that American Express had a big stake in this popup and their card holders got priority getting tables. They’ve obviously decided that their association with this lunatic was bad pr and pulling out a day before popup starts was a business decision. Also read that there will be demonstrations at location of popup. Can’t imagine many people want to be associated with that mess. I’ve been unfollowing various food people and was sad to read that Phil Rosenthal is involved in the popup. Will be interested to see what he does…
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Interesting that stating the obvious came across as bashing the ‘rich’. I was merely commenting on the reality that finding out that you are supporting a monster that stabs their employees with forks and then continuing to blithely reward and enable that abuse is complicity. If that means the ‘rich’ people doing that get bashed, maybe they should look at their behavior.
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Ooops, Blackbird, too pulled out.
American Express and Blackbird, a hospitality start-up, announced Monday that they would withdraw from the sold-out, 16-week series, scheduled to start on Wednesday. Both companies had purchased blocks of tickets for their members. Resy American Express bought six nights for its U.S. Platinum cardholders, and Blackbird bought about $100,000 worth of tickets throughout the run.
They said they would issue refunds to customers and donate all proceeds already collected to organizations that protect restaurant workers.
For each night, Noma sold 42 tickets, bringing the potential revenue to $63,000 per night, and about $4 million for the total run. According to the ticketing website Tock, which is owned by American Express, all bookings are now nonrefundable and nontransferable.
Of the six nights Resy American Express bought for its cardholders, three were already sold out, and the remaining three were still to be released. Customers who bought tickets can request a refund. All remaining proceeds from the three nights sold will be donated, and the remaining three will be “given back to Noma,” a Resy spokeswoman said.
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And since Blackbird is essentially out of the money they paid ($100K), they’re donating proceeds already collected.. 
"Blackbird bought about $100,000 worth of tickets throughout the run.
They said they would issue refunds to customers and donate all proceeds already collected to organizations that protect restaurant workers."
ETA: Amex is also donating the proceeds and refund any who ask.
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Excellent.
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Comments are also VERY interesting on the NYT article that @naf linked. There are some who get it.
"Seems like this Chef is due for some major legal reckoning, and the jail time that comes with assault and torture.
I write this as one who formerly admired his work and artistry, being well aware of the high stress and great teamwork involved in NOMA’s success, but with no idea of the extreme cruelty that went on behind the scenes."
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The article says “They’re three different shades of green, three different texture-covers, three different ways of looking at the same restaurant and the same chef.”
Well, now there’s a FOURTH way of looking at the same chef.
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In this thread several people mentioned that they weren’t aware before these accusations became public about the history of those issues at Noma. I don’t think similarly then that a lot of people who bought these tickets for the dinner several weeks ago were aware of these accusations and might not have bought them if they would have known. So yes, I see it at bashing in that case because looking back now with all information it is easy to “complain” that they “support” such a restaurant (or will you know always check the background of any chef before you visit his/her restaurant)
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And I assume they have cancelled by now or not attending.
And, since we are quoting the record, you said ‘rich’ people, not me. I mentioned their target audience.
Interesting.
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As I have mentioned before, this tickets can’t be cancelled. Once you paid for them you can’t cancel them
Apparently a lot of refunds are being issued. So, somebody is cancelling.
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It seems, if true, that there is enough pressure on AE and Blackbird to change their policy fir this event as the original conditions didn’t allow any refunds or even transfer of the tickets
Google AI says that they’re refundable as long as cancelled at least 4 weeks prior to the reservation. I think the thing starts tomorrow, so perhaps attendance drops off a cliff in a month. Not sure whether we’ll be able to find out in any reasonable way.
Because that was mentioned several times throughout this thread that apparently only the rich/1% are going to those restaurants
And who else, pray tell, has $1,500 lying around for a dinner at this abusive shit’s pop-up, other than rich people?
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You responded specifically to my comment. I did not mention the rich. I mentioned their target demographic-- if that turns out to be callous wealthy people, that is not my fault. Per today’s article in NYT about Blackbird dropping out, cancellations and refunds are mentioned multiple times. No one that is shocked by these ‘revelations’ is forced to attend even if they bought a ticket. It is shocking that no one knew about this widely reported information that has been fairly common knowledge for years. It was first mentioned in Eater over a decade ago. It’s been no secret. The Atlantic. The Financial Times. Eater. Many people covered this story.
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