Bon Appetit Editor-in-Chief Resigns After Brownface Photo Surfaces

The editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit, a food magazine with a massive following on YouTube and whose chefs have become online stars, has resigned Monday (June 8) after a photo of him wearing brown face surfaced.

Adam Rapoport, who was the head of Bon Appétit since 2010 and managed its video expansion since 2016, announced his resignation after a photo of him and his wife dressed as stereotyped Puerto Ricans was posted on twitter.

In a statement on Instagram, Rapaport said he was resigning to “reflect on the work that I need to do as a human being” and referenced the costume, which he said he wore during a Halloween party 16 years ago.

“[The Bon Appétit staff and readers] all deserve better,” he said in the statement. “I am deeply sorry for my failings and to the position n which I put the editors of BA. Thank you.”

According to Sohla El-Waylly, an assistant food editor at the magazine who regularly appears on its videos, Rapoport immediately called a staff-wide Zoom meeting where she asked him to resign.

“[Rapoport’s apology] just made me really angry because he just he doesn't understand what he did and the way that they continually treat the people of color on staff,” El-Waylly told Buzzfeed News.

El-Waylly also claimed in a series of Instagram posts that she and other non-white editors in Bon Appétit were not paid for their appearances on its popular YouTube channel.

“I’ve been pushed in front of video as a display of diversity,” Al-Waylly said on Instagram. “None of the people of color have been compensated.”

She has said that Rapoport’s actions were symptomatic of “systemic racism” plaguing Condé Nast, which owns Bon Appétit.

Other Bon Appétit staff and contributors, mostly black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), have come out to criticize Rapoport’s photo.

Priya Krishna, a contributor who also regularly appears on videos for the magazine, said it erased the work BIPOC staff have been doing behind the scenes.

“I plan to do everything in my power to hold the EIC, and systems that hold up actions like this, accountable.”

Molly Baz, a senior editor, said she will not appear in any future videos for the magazine until BIPOC staff would be equally compensated. She also called other staff to do the same.

Rapoport’s departure follows high-profile resignations and protests in other publications. New York Times editorial page editor James Bennet resigned after he allowed the publication of a controversial editorial penned by Sen. Tom Cotton. BIPOC journalists at the Philadelphia Inquirer staged a digital walkout, saying they were “tired of shouldering the burden of dragging this 200-year-old institution kicking and screaming into a more equitable age.”