Batali: Bankers Are Awesome And Nothing Like Hitler Or Stalin

Sorry about that! (Twitter).

Mario Batali would like you (and more importantly the banking community) to know that he does not actually believe most bankers are like Hitler or Stalin. After bankers started canceling reservations and threatening to boycott his many restaurants, the Croc-loving chef took to Twitter (and his press team took to e-mail) for some serious damage control. "To remove any ambiguity about my appearance at yesterday’s Time Person of the Year panel, I want to apologize for my remarks," he tweeted. And then, just in case that wasn't clear enough, he followed that up with: "It was never my intention to equate our banking industry with Hitler and Stalin, two of the most evil, brutal dictators in modern history."

Still, Batali's apologies may (may!) be too little, too late. "I love his restaurants, but I’m done with Mario Batali, I will never eat at another of his places," an Arkansas businessman who frequently dined at Batali’s restaurants in New York and Las Vegas, wrote in an e-mail. "He’s insulted a considerable number of his customers at the very time Wall Street is shrinking organically. It’ll be interesting to see where his businesses are in five years. Very, very dumb move on his part."

But, to be fair, not everyone is quite that upset over the chef's remarks. "It does seem like a strange thing to say from someone who has benefited from the largesse of the banking community over the years," a former banker and restaurateur told the Journal. "But I still think he's a fantastically talented chef." And as another points out, a lot of Batali's business comes from outside the banking community anyway: "He could probably piss off every bank in the world and still be fine. Maybe Goldman will cancel their Christmas party at Del Posto, but that's about it."

Shame, we really would have liked a chance at a Babbo reservation after 5:30 p.m.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in Food on November 10, 2011 10:59 AM

Comments [rss]

remyngtin

Dear Mario ,

Guess we'll see you at OWS , I'll save a tent for you

Love ,
The other 99%

whodiditandran

Who better to serve the pigs than a pig himself.

JoanAngelson

They would be fools to eat in any of his restaurants again.

xXxMExXx

Good to see capitalism in effect.

RobertMosesSupposesErroneously

Awww mean Mario hurt their widdle banker feelings....after they finish their tantrum, they'll go home and weep into their swimming pool full of money.

But don't worry, soon they'll cheer up and be back to ruining blue-collar families and raping the environment, just like their good old selves again!

shocktheday

Raping the environment ? Bankers typically don't drive Silverados, those Union workers supporting OWS does.

Colonel_Ingus

"Don't stop him, he's on a roll"

AaronRed99

Even Batali wouldn't turn away Hitler if he had 4k to drop on truffles.

Rocknrope

His finger looks like WC Fields' nose.

cr17

Mario Batali is like the white Idi Amin in orange Crocs.

Guest

bankers aren't like Hilter or Stalin. they're like bankers, which is bad enough.

MattyGC

this whole thing is stupid.

tijuanatornado

The fact that he's apologizing shows that they do make a good portion of his clientele, so yes, they do have some sway into how his business goes.

Trustafarian

there's other rich people out there besides bankers.

most of batalis restaurants are pretty small compared to the demand of people to go to them.

once again, bankers show their arrogance by thinking they can single handedly destroy one of the most famous chefs in the world.

Nico Ortiz

Not in New York, there's not.

whiteiris

Who the hell said anything about destroy. Really, occupy some reading comprehension. Any person or business being compared to Hitler and Stalin has every right to be pissed idiot.

shocktheday

Some firms are refusing to reimburse any expenses from his restaurants and some have called for a boycott.

Detex

Maybe true but his funding comes from bankers... You need funding to open new digs...

Politburo

He's a wildly successful restaurateur.. no sane banker is going to let an off-hand comment stop them from investing in one of his projects.