Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver's Children's Book Pulled Over 'Offensive' Stereotypes

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has removed his children's book, Billy and the Epic Escape, from sale globally after receiving backlash for stereotyping Indigenous Australians.

The 400-page fantasy novel features an Aboriginal girl with mystical powers.

The book received criticism from First Nations leaders for having language errors and contributing to the "erasure, trivialization, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences," according to the BBC,

They referred to it as "offensive" and contributed to the "erasure, trivialization, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences."

The main character in the book uses vocabulary from the Gamilaraay people of New South Wales and Queensland but is from Mparntwe or Alice Springs.

Sharon Davis, a member of the national First Nations' education body said the discrepancy showed a "complete disregard for the vast differences among First Nations languages, cultures, and practices."

Davis also said the character's ability to talk with plants, zoolingualism, and telepathy are "complex and diverse belief systems" that the book reduces to "magic."

The main character is at the center of an abduction plot, an aspect of the book that community leader Sue-Anne Hunter referred to as a "particularly insensitive choice," considering the "painful historical context" of Australia's legacy of the Stolen Generations, the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families by government officials as part of an assimilation policy.

Other issues regarding the book include the misuse of cultural elements.

Oliver apologized and said he was "devastated" to have caused hurt.

"It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue," he said.

Penguin Random House UK, the book's publisher, took responsibility for the errors and said Oliver had requested Indigenous Australians as consultations for the book's continuity, but an "editorial oversight" prevented it.

Indigenous people in Australia have been a pivotal force in shaping policy.

In October, Senator Lidia Thorpe, yelled at King Charles during his Australia visit to parliament: "You are not my king," in an act of rebellion, demanding a treaty between the Crown and Aboriginals.

Last year, Australia's parliament held a referendum to pass a constitution alteration bill to create a voice for the country's First Peoples.

In 2015, the $16 billion development of a Carmichael mine in Queensland was blocked by Aboriginal groups because it threatened their ancestral land.

The United Nations ordained August 9th as the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.