Despite what people may think of the man, owning up to mistakes and apologizing for horrible actions of the past is a right step in the direction for making changes for the better in his life. Some of the leaders in the United States could learn a thing or two from Rene taking ownership of mistakes and apologizing.
LocksmithAwkward3760 on
he didn’t write it because he ever felt sorry, he only wrote it because he got caught
chefpatrick on
‘its just the stress, baby. i swear, it will be different this time’
HeathcliffSlowcum on
A $100 emotional and physical abuse offset charge will be added to each ticket in Los Angeles.
STDS13 on
I’m just glad people are finally talking about this. I’ve worked with people who staged and had full positions at noma, not a single one of them ever had good things to say about Rene.
moronsreverywhere on
Owning up to it and apologizing is one thing. Least one could do. Acting on it is another. There are no specific actions or plans mentioned. Kind of disappointing
SwimmingCoyote on
In a vacuum, this is a very good public apology. There is accountability and an outright apology. While there is context given for the problematic behavior, it’s not stated in a way that is meant to shirk responsibility. If I were his publicist, this is the type of statement I would want him to release. That said, if the underlying behavior hasn’t actually changed, the statement is useless.
KitchenLandscape on
NY Times just today put out a big article detailing the abuse. I understand their site is paywalled but I highly recommend reading it, these comments he put out are in direct relation to the article as it states they reached out to him for comment. What’s described in the article, and they interviewed approximately 35 former employees/interns for it, describes incidents of criminal assault on his part of numerous kinds. I’ve seen people here in the states arrested for assault doing less than what is described in the article.
Additionally a story is told where he forced the entire kitchen staff outside, circling a sous chef in which he physically attacked and then would not let anyone go inside until the sous chef loudly proclaimed he “liked sucking djs dicks” – this was due to the sous chef playing techno. Thats a workplace sexual harrassment claim on top of criminal assault. Now I’m speaking as an American, but I cant imagine Denmarks laws are too far off regarding either. I hope people cancel their $1500 pop up reservations en masse. I wouldn’t be surprised if that decision is made for them after this article circulates widely.
zewthenimp on
Pretty weak apology considering the behavior, including that he punched a woman in the ribs hard enough to make her collapse (because she had the audacity to lower the restaurant’s volume at a customer’s request).
ArachnidMother7211 on
Clown
Background-Top-1946 on
I feel like these kind of public statements are self serving. Actions over words. And if you’ve hurt people, resign.
Helpful_Pipe_685 on
I previously worked at another Michelin-starred restaurant in Copenhagen where the sous chef created a very difficult work environment. She often spoke to staff by shouting and would call people names when mistakes were made. I found her behavior rude and arrogant, and it made the workplace quite stressful. She has since become a well-known chef in Denmark, and I believe many others who worked under her may have had similar experiences. Everytime I see her on TV I literally get ptsd.
Square_Cellist9838 on
He’s just like every other power hungry asshole.
thalassicus on
Thank you for addressing the anger. Now address the physical violence which is an actual crime and the exploitation of free labor. Exploiting workers doesn’t happen in the heat of the moment. It happens when you’re willing to walk over others for your own success because at your core, you are an immoral person who only does the right thing when caught in your pernicious behavior.
figsfigsfigsfigsfigs on
Right… I wouldn’t recall stabbing people I refer to as my family in the legs either. How can anyone believe this is sincere?
fattychalupa on
An excerpt from the NYT article:
“One chef from Central America, who had worked at several Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe, saved for a year and sold her car so she could afford to take a job at Noma in 2013. She said she couldn’t stop working long enough to eat, and lost 40 pounds during the first year. (She requested anonymity, saying she did not want to face public discussion of a traumatic event.)
One night, she said, Mr. Redzepi spotted her using a phone, which was strictly forbidden during service. (She recalled that she was using it to turn down the volume of the music in the dining room at a guest’s request.) Without a word, she said, he punched her in the ribs hard enough that she fell against a metal counter, and cut her hip on its sharp corner.
She was on the floor, bleeding and in tears, she recalled, but no one said a word as she fled to the dressing room. When a sous-chef eventually came to find her, she said, he asked only if she was OK to return to work. She went back to her station and finished her shift. (An email exchange with her parents confirms that she shared the incident with them at the time.)”
—
Posting a lazy, PR apology online doesn’t atone for the physical and psychological trauma he inflicted on the countless people he literally assaulted.
extremelybossthug on
rene harassed and stalked my friend when he was working at the noma in tulum. rene just made his life hell.
john_tartufo on
This week I’ve privately heard allegations about a very high profile British chef that are worse than anything in this article. I hope the floodgates open for these fuckers.
PassRevolutionary254 on
Did he apologize bc a NYT article just came out?
ExcellentAsk2309 on
Isn’t the david Chang guy the same and all of them
Sigh
Pomegranatepomm on
Ok Tyra
turribledood on
He’s been apologizing for over a decade.
The real question is how much has he (and the rest of Noma’s management team) changed since then and it seems the answer is pretty clearly “not enough”.
SpeechCareless3327 on
i was lucky enough to talk to a former noma employee and i quote this from them: “it’s all black and white. either you are lucky enough to be liked by rene, or he hates you to the core.”
catchup4thegoodtimes on
he can recall the anger but can’t recall the physical violence from that anger – this man needs to quit the industry.
sisivee on
We’re still accountable for our past actions. I think his only path forward is to step down.
inatcto on
lol this is such a PR response.
Sad-Resist3210 on
This fuckin sucks. Rene needs to rehabilitate and this is so far from it. Mealymouthed reactive post. Give me a break dude
Either_Statement1980 on
He assaulted people and should have been arrested. This is not at all addressed in his apology and he still denies he did these things “maybe I pushed people”
harmfulinsect on
from what’s described in the nyt article, rene should be in jail. i hope the copenhagen police open an investigation and charge him for assault. it seems likely that he has assaulted people within the statute of limitations.
Club96shhh on
Why is the police not involved? Physical abuse like this, in any other context would lead to a criminal charge.
And he did this countless times, in front of hundreds of witnesses.
I guess the fear runs that deep.
Firm_Interaction_816 on
Oh come on, the guy said he was sorry, what more do you want? /s
Seriously, lock him up. Shame on anyone who still supports Noma after this. Don’t fret, I’ll be offering a few ‘dishes’ similar to Noma’s at a pop-up in my back garden, only €5 and you even get to pick your own snails.
hajisansi on
This doesn’t explain some of the stories about the people who worked with nova projects which is from 2022….
Him also bringing Noma to LA is also pretty out of touch with reality. Considering what is going on in the world.
This empty ass apology is only to cater to the rich folks of LA, so it doesn’t flop balls.
DiskPuzzleheaded2063 on
He’s far from the only one. Take a good look at the chefs who responded to him, most if not all have also been known to perpetuate such behaviour.
circadian_light on
This is damage control, not an apology. The article quotes part of it as being a statement he provided to the Times.
Some of the comments on the IG post are truly eye-opening. The level of blind hero-worship is insane.
VitoGeni on
This guy’s a piece of shit. I personally know chefs that were abused by him and his team. Owning up to it is a step in the right direction, but he deserves what ever comes his way due to this finally coming out.
35 Comments
Despite what people may think of the man, owning up to mistakes and apologizing for horrible actions of the past is a right step in the direction for making changes for the better in his life. Some of the leaders in the United States could learn a thing or two from Rene taking ownership of mistakes and apologizing.
he didn’t write it because he ever felt sorry, he only wrote it because he got caught
‘its just the stress, baby. i swear, it will be different this time’
A $100 emotional and physical abuse offset charge will be added to each ticket in Los Angeles.
I’m just glad people are finally talking about this. I’ve worked with people who staged and had full positions at noma, not a single one of them ever had good things to say about Rene.
Owning up to it and apologizing is one thing. Least one could do. Acting on it is another. There are no specific actions or plans mentioned. Kind of disappointing
In a vacuum, this is a very good public apology. There is accountability and an outright apology. While there is context given for the problematic behavior, it’s not stated in a way that is meant to shirk responsibility. If I were his publicist, this is the type of statement I would want him to release. That said, if the underlying behavior hasn’t actually changed, the statement is useless.
NY Times just today put out a big article detailing the abuse. I understand their site is paywalled but I highly recommend reading it, these comments he put out are in direct relation to the article as it states they reached out to him for comment. What’s described in the article, and they interviewed approximately 35 former employees/interns for it, describes incidents of criminal assault on his part of numerous kinds. I’ve seen people here in the states arrested for assault doing less than what is described in the article.
Additionally a story is told where he forced the entire kitchen staff outside, circling a sous chef in which he physically attacked and then would not let anyone go inside until the sous chef loudly proclaimed he “liked sucking djs dicks” – this was due to the sous chef playing techno. Thats a workplace sexual harrassment claim on top of criminal assault. Now I’m speaking as an American, but I cant imagine Denmarks laws are too far off regarding either. I hope people cancel their $1500 pop up reservations en masse. I wouldn’t be surprised if that decision is made for them after this article circulates widely.
Pretty weak apology considering the behavior, including that he punched a woman in the ribs hard enough to make her collapse (because she had the audacity to lower the restaurant’s volume at a customer’s request).
Clown
I feel like these kind of public statements are self serving. Actions over words. And if you’ve hurt people, resign.
I previously worked at another Michelin-starred restaurant in Copenhagen where the sous chef created a very difficult work environment. She often spoke to staff by shouting and would call people names when mistakes were made. I found her behavior rude and arrogant, and it made the workplace quite stressful. She has since become a well-known chef in Denmark, and I believe many others who worked under her may have had similar experiences. Everytime I see her on TV I literally get ptsd.
He’s just like every other power hungry asshole.
Thank you for addressing the anger. Now address the physical violence which is an actual crime and the exploitation of free labor. Exploiting workers doesn’t happen in the heat of the moment. It happens when you’re willing to walk over others for your own success because at your core, you are an immoral person who only does the right thing when caught in your pernicious behavior.
Right… I wouldn’t recall stabbing people I refer to as my family in the legs either. How can anyone believe this is sincere?
An excerpt from the NYT article:
“One chef from Central America, who had worked at several Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe, saved for a year and sold her car so she could afford to take a job at Noma in 2013. She said she couldn’t stop working long enough to eat, and lost 40 pounds during the first year. (She requested anonymity, saying she did not want to face public discussion of a traumatic event.)
One night, she said, Mr. Redzepi spotted her using a phone, which was strictly forbidden during service. (She recalled that she was using it to turn down the volume of the music in the dining room at a guest’s request.) Without a word, she said, he punched her in the ribs hard enough that she fell against a metal counter, and cut her hip on its sharp corner.
She was on the floor, bleeding and in tears, she recalled, but no one said a word as she fled to the dressing room. When a sous-chef eventually came to find her, she said, he asked only if she was OK to return to work. She went back to her station and finished her shift. (An email exchange with her parents confirms that she shared the incident with them at the time.)”
—
Posting a lazy, PR apology online doesn’t atone for the physical and psychological trauma he inflicted on the countless people he literally assaulted.
rene harassed and stalked my friend when he was working at the noma in tulum. rene just made his life hell.
This week I’ve privately heard allegations about a very high profile British chef that are worse than anything in this article. I hope the floodgates open for these fuckers.
Did he apologize bc a NYT article just came out?
Isn’t the david Chang guy the same and all of them
Sigh
Ok Tyra
He’s been apologizing for over a decade.
The real question is how much has he (and the rest of Noma’s management team) changed since then and it seems the answer is pretty clearly “not enough”.
i was lucky enough to talk to a former noma employee and i quote this from them: “it’s all black and white. either you are lucky enough to be liked by rene, or he hates you to the core.”
he can recall the anger but can’t recall the physical violence from that anger – this man needs to quit the industry.
We’re still accountable for our past actions. I think his only path forward is to step down.
lol this is such a PR response.
This fuckin sucks. Rene needs to rehabilitate and this is so far from it. Mealymouthed reactive post. Give me a break dude
He assaulted people and should have been arrested. This is not at all addressed in his apology and he still denies he did these things “maybe I pushed people”
from what’s described in the nyt article, rene should be in jail. i hope the copenhagen police open an investigation and charge him for assault. it seems likely that he has assaulted people within the statute of limitations.
Why is the police not involved? Physical abuse like this, in any other context would lead to a criminal charge.
And he did this countless times, in front of hundreds of witnesses.
I guess the fear runs that deep.
Oh come on, the guy said he was sorry, what more do you want? /s
Seriously, lock him up. Shame on anyone who still supports Noma after this. Don’t fret, I’ll be offering a few ‘dishes’ similar to Noma’s at a pop-up in my back garden, only €5 and you even get to pick your own snails.
This doesn’t explain some of the stories about the people who worked with nova projects which is from 2022….
Him also bringing Noma to LA is also pretty out of touch with reality. Considering what is going on in the world.
This empty ass apology is only to cater to the rich folks of LA, so it doesn’t flop balls.
He’s far from the only one. Take a good look at the chefs who responded to him, most if not all have also been known to perpetuate such behaviour.
This is damage control, not an apology. The article quotes part of it as being a statement he provided to the Times.
Some of the comments on the IG post are truly eye-opening. The level of blind hero-worship is insane.
This guy’s a piece of shit. I personally know chefs that were abused by him and his team. Owning up to it is a step in the right direction, but he deserves what ever comes his way due to this finally coming out.