To think Alison Roman was both unfair and racist in her comments about Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo?

[Rodehereonthebus]

I'd only vaguely heard of food writer Alison Roman but in a recent interview she did, she's singled out Marie Kondo and Chrissy Teigen as examples of people who have 'capitalized' on their fame by selling products and that Chrissy's business model 'horrifies' her. She's now been heavily criticised and offered an apology on her Twitter which was one of those 'sorry I hurt your feelings' apologies, after first posting that she wishes someone would hold her hand in the face of the backlash...as if she's the victim here!

Now, many people have noted that she's just 'coincidentally' chosen two very successful women who are both (at least in part) Asian as examples of commercialisation. I think this is entirely correct to call out - there are any number of men and women who sell product ranges with their name and branding, yet she somehow happened to land on these two women as examples of everything she doesn't want to be? Alison also posted that she didn't mean to attack other women, but she hasn't at all addressed the implicit racial bias she's demonstrated. (She does mention Goop briefly in another part of the interview, but not Gwyneth.) She also mentions that she's also doing a product 'collaboration', but of course when she does it it's fine, because she's so artisinal and whatnot, not like Marie and Chrissy

newconsumer.com/2020/05/alison-roman-interview/

@4Smalls people care about casual racism and people trying to publicly shame women.

You’re on mn FGS you’re clearly not above gossip 🤦‍♀️ Why bother posting.

I don't actually think what she did is necessarily racism.

Or said, rather

How is “please to buy” not racist? Her explanation that she’s taking it from an Eastern European cook only makes it worse. It shows she really doesn’t understand what she is saying and applying it to someone who doesn’t speak English well. Also a common racist mimic of Asians.

There were so many other people she could have used as examples and she chose two Asian women, who are ethnically in the minority in the public eye. There were soooooo many other people she could have mentioned. And as others said, why mention anyone negatively at all?
If she’s trying to be a troll, her flaccid apology doesn’t fit the bill.

There were so many other people she could have used as examples and she chose two Asian women, who are ethnically in the minority in the public eye. There were soooooo many other people she could have mentioned

I agree. In fact she made reference to Goop a couple of times in that article but didn’t make a single mention of GP or call her out for ‘selling out’.

And yes, we care as it’s my just celebrity tittle tattle. As a woman of colour, we are now standing up for ourselves and being heard for the first time. Just as we, as women are now able to be heard about sexual assault in positions of power. It’s looking for acknowledgment and correction so we can get closer to equality. I will fight to be equal.

@VladmirsPoutine it is racism. Even if she's too ignorant to realise, it is racist.

I didn't see the please to buy - I was speaking about the article and her subsequent twitter rapid reflux with Chrissy. She's a terrible person absolutely; and I am not going to police the Asian community who've called her out on racism.

What she exudes more in my opinion is an attitude I have come across in many white women (esp being from a minority) - a lot of white women feel pure rage but inexplicably so whenever a woman of colour occupies an esteemed place which traditionally is occupied by white (women). It would be easy for me to say she's racist and leave it at that but I find the sort of pathology she's demonstrating far more nuanced which requires more reflection imho than just saying "racist. next."

I'm not into celeb culture but I've read a few articles on Chrissy Teigen as she has been very open about her fertility issues and body positivity. I think her response was so human and heartfelt. She comes across as genuine and lovely. It's never good when you need to tear someone else down in order to promote yourself. It is a part of our culture that I wish we could change.

Criticising SM influencers is fair game, IMO.
Mimicing foreign speech patterns and expressions, and singling out two Asian women when there are people of every race and ethnicity doing this does cross the line into racism.
And yes, I would have started with Gwyneth Paltrow, especially for the vagina steaming thing. Female genitals aren't dirty or need 'maintanence' Gwynneth.
YANBU .

She comes across as genuine and lovely.

I totally agree that she should be applauded for being successful at whatever her business is but she definitely didn’t come across as lovely or genuine when she was tweeting vile things to a 17 year old Courtney Stodden and then complaining that she was the target of on line bullies.

I didn't see the please to buy - I was speaking about the article
“Please to buy” is in the article. It’s easy to miss read abstinence automatically sort it into correct English as you probably weren’t expecting to see casual racism just thrown in there.

She comes across as genuine and lovely.

I think Chrissy is great and applaud how 'down to earth' she seems. She certainly didn't come across as lovely when she slut shamed a woman or bullied a young actress online.

I didn't know about the Coutney Stodden thing - like I said, I only really know about CT through things shes shared about fertility.

Whatever Chrissy has or hasn't said in the past, it doesn't negate the implicit racism of AR's comments. And as I said in my OP, it's also irrelevant whether AR intended to be racist or not. Plenty of people, for example, mimic accents and don't think it's racist. To reduce racism to individual intent places the onus on victims to forgive and forget, simply because someone didn't 'mean it that way'. If someone accuses you of being racist, rather than get defensive and claim that your comments were misconstrued (as AR did) it might be more useful to reflect on whether you may be holding racial biases you're not consciously aware of.

I think the issue in the U.K. at the moment is that people still think racism is lynch mobs, 'no blacks' signs on shop doorways, the n word and segregation.

In fact, it's a lot more subtle and insidious than that which makes it much harder to pinpoint. I think it's worth asking though if Gwyneth Paltrow, Martha Stewart, Chloe Ferry etc don't irritate you by using social media in their business model then why do Chrissy Teigan and Marie Kondo.

I think this can be applied to most things. If it's pissing you off when a woman of colour is doing something, but it doesn't piss you off when a white woman does it, then you should be thinking about why this is.

This woman was so obviously racist that I don’t see how her career can come back. If it does it just goes to show how much society values pretty, young, white women and how much it devalues non-white women.

I didn't see the please to buy

That's because she had it edited in the article 'because it was misinterpreted'.

I've just read it again - there's a whole editors note about it. Apparently she didn't do a mock accent but something about Russian ESL...? Which in itself isn't acceptable either.

This will invariably get blown over and any decent conversation there was to be had about the wider gate-keeping of the lifestyle & branding of cultures / food isn't going to happen. Nor is the discussion about why she felt so riled up about two Asian women is going to be swallowed up in her discourse about promoting feminism. This plays out like this all the time.

Chrissy Teigen can do no wrong . I love her and her array of silk robes

Chrissy Teigen can do no wrong.

This is precisely why things don't ever need to change. One could even argue that Alison need not change - she is after all a relatively successful upcoming chef / lifestyle guru. I've always found the notion of idolising influencers & celebrities in such a manner - to hold them in such high regard that the rules of human decency no longer apply to them. I couldn't do that but you have fun @Booboodisney.

@vladimirs it’s not that deep 😂 Of course I’m she can and does make mistakes some times, I don’t know her ! I like her social media persona. Her social media persona can do no wrong in my eyes. Is that better 😂

Also never heard of Alison Roman. She looks like an inoffensive, basic white girl who makes basic recipes. I’m sure she’s fine , not my bag though.

Boob I hear you! I suppose all in all it's quite futile as the industry will just move on as I said in my post above the one addressing you. There's always some sort of scandal - I don't know if you've heard of Maya Jama - a mixed race presenter who once said very hurtful things about dark skinned black women - would you now believe she's a radio presenter with a host of endorsements and a generally good public persona. No-one will get cancelled.

I had never heard of Alison Roman before. However, both Marie Kondo and Chrissie Teigen have both really helped lots of people - Chrissie Teigen in particular has been brave in standing up to Donald Trump.

I’m too late to see the headline before it was edited. Yes, it is a mysterious coincidence racist to choose these particular women when there are so many to choose from.

I personally can't see the difference between selling a cookery column or cook book and a nice drawer organiser or jar.