Posted on 01/14/2021 11:34:36 AM PST by nickcarraway
Taking his most drastic step yet in response to public criticism, celebrity chef Thomas Keller took down his Twitter account on Tuesday after almost a year of blowback. The departure from the social media platform comes after many critiqued him for Tweeting praise of a right wing billionaire.
On Tuesday afternoon, the famed owner of Yountville’s the French Laundry posted thanking Sheldon G. Adelson, who had recently died, for his support of Keller’s restaurant in Las Vegas. “You will be missed,” Keller wrote.
Adelson and his wife were President Donald Trump’s biggest donors in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Adelson was also known for backing Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The response online was swift, with many calling Keller tone deaf after the recent riots at the Capitol incited by Trump. A spokesperson for Keller’s restaurant group, which includes restaurants in Napa Valley, New York, Las Vegas and Miami that have earned multiple Michelin stars, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His Instagram account, with over 625,000 followers, is still active.
Online backlash against Keller has been growing over the course of the pandemic. In April, Keller was tapped to join the White House’s coronavirus council on revitalizing the economy. He said on Twitter that he was “honored” to be chosen. Critics immediately responded, frustrated the food and beverage leaders were overwhelmingly white, male and mostly came from large corporate entities like Kraft.
Keller countered on Twitter: “This is not a partisan issue; millions are struggling to put a meal on their table. I stand proudly alongside some of the great thought-leaders of today; Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Ajay Banga, Condoleezza Rice, Adam Silver, Ann Mukherjee, Barbara Grimm, and many others. I urge all haters and cynics to stop and join meaningful actions. Shout less, act more.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfchronicle.com ...
Cancel culture is a cancer.
>> after the recent riots at the Capitol
PLURAL?
How many riots?
Long time Democratic donor.
I’m not surprised. The majority of donations are to Mike Thompson, the Representative for Napa.
What a special riot this was, after a year of antifa and black lies matter showing how to do it right-burn down buildings after looting everything in them, threaten people going about their business, assault some of them, especially if they’re white, and repeat for days, weeks, months.
No blowback for hosting a dinner for top Democrats in blatant violation of Lord Newsom’s orders, but blowback for this? The Democrats these days reek of hypocrisy.
Isn’t that the restaurant where Gavin Newsom was photographed dining maskless with friends after lecturing everyone else?
“Isn’t that the restaurant where Gavin Newsom was photographed dining maskless with friends after lecturing everyone else?”
Yes it is.
“after the recent riots at the Capitol incited by Trump”
Keep tellin’ yourself that.
Whats a Twitter?
Correct
It’s just getting started.
It generally ends in front of ditches or gas ovens.
Yes, the one in Napa Valley, just north of his and Pelosi’s town, Sodom.
Every time I see the name, I think: French Connection + money laundering = French Laundry, and that explains Why the absurd overpricing. Too bad no one ever audits anything.
Twitter has been taken over by trolls. I would venture that most people on Twitter are just basic normal people but that the trolls are very few and very vocal. They amplify themselves by having multiple accounts, and being anonymous for the most part takes away any consequences associated with people objecting to what they say. If you are on twitter and 10 people say how good you are, and one person says you are a racist bastard, guess what? You are a racist bastard.
People read what is said about them and the insults are far more motivating than the compliments. Who reads the positive reviews on Belch? Nobody. People decide which restaurants to go to by people telling them what is good, but if they don’t have a place in mind, they might decide not to go to a place based on Belch reviews. I don’t use Belch for exactly the reason that they propagate negative opinions far better than they propagate positive ones. Same with Twitter.
Mainstream social media apps are fueled by growth. If you join twitter, you are mostly looking for followers. If you don’t get followers, you might leave. In order to provide followers, Twitter needs to grow its user base. This is why deplatforming their users is a bad strategy. It is negative growth in the number of people available to be followers. If you don’t get followers, you might leave, and so they get negative growth.
The growth of the user base is one reason why Twitter is so friendly to the left: China is more friendly to the left than to the right. If you want your share of 1.5 billion new followers, you might sacrifice 75 million old followers.
French Laundry is a fancy, pricy place.
Good! I hope all libtards stop going to his restaurants, especially Gov. Noisome.
Nothing but best wishes for Keller. A long time ago my wife and I and a friend saved our hard earned cash and went to the French Laundry. OMG, it was unbelievably good. Haven’t been back because it already cost us almost a thousand bucks for just the three of us and it’s done nothing but double, and double again, since then. But if you’ve got the bucks and have never been there, do yourself a favor (and Keller a favor), and GO! You won’t regret it.
Which is why I won’t be giving up any guns.
My wife ate there a few years ago. She went with a friend to visit the vineyards. Her friends sister and husband also went. They are well healed. So all the vineyards they visited were private, not opened to the public. The husband treated them to dinner at the French laundry. Never knew what it cost, but my wife bought them a $300.00 bottle of wine as a thank you. I like beer.
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