New York (CNN Business)Bon Appétit editor in chief Adam Rapoport stepped down on Monday over accusations of bias and a discriminatory culture at the Condé Nast-owned food magazine.
Last week, after Rapoport posted about the company covering the protests, a food writer accused the company of gaslighting women of color in a tweet. On Monday, many more accusations emerged online, sparked in part by a 2013 Instagram photo of Rapoport in brown face for Halloween. By the end of a day in which the food media world had been filled with discussions about the magazine’s culture and the inclusion or lack thereof of diverse voices, several of the magazine’s staff members had either said publicly that they would stop appearing in the magazine’s popular videos until changes were made or posted that they had called for his resignation.
Monday evening, Rapoport announced his resignation. “I am stepping down as editor in chief of Bon Appétit to reflect on the work that I need to do as a human being and allow Bon Appétit to get to a better place,” Rapoport posted on his Instagram. The controversy brings new attention to the problem of representation in food media. And it will also be a blow for the magazine and Condé Nast, which had recently counted Bon Appétit as a surprise success story, especially with the younger audiences magazines are desperate for. Last month, Bon Appétit won four awards at the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine awards including general excellence for service and lifestyle. Beyond the print magazine, the brand has grown a successful YouTube channel.Read More
Condé Nast appointed Rapoport editor in chief of Bon Appétit in 2010. He was previously style editor at GQ and had been working at the magazine conglomerate since 2000.Condé Nast and Rapoport did not respond to requests for comment.
Source: edition.cnn.com