What Happened to Bon Appétit?
A rundown of BA’s unraveling has been highly requested. Here’s what you need to know, through articles and through supplemental details. (This will be updated as changes develop and will be pinned to this blog)
UPDATED AUGUST 15TH, 5:37PM EDT
Priya Krishna, Rick Martinez, and Sohla El-Waylly announced that they are officially ending their video appearances. Since then Molly Baz, Gaby Melian, Carla Lalli Music, and Amiel Stanek have joined them.
Ryan Walker-Hartshorn and Jesse Sparks, the only two Black editorial staff members remaining at Bon Appétit, have now also left.
The Proskauer Rose investigation is complete. Alex Delany and Matt Hunziker have both returned from suspension.
What happened?
It all starts on May 31st, 2020.
Bon Appétit's week from hell: How a deluge of allegations depicting a 'toxic' work culture left the magazine in chaos
The above article details the events from May 31st, 2020 to June 14th, 2020. It is pretty comprehensive, except it doesn’t mention that Alex Delaney was actually suspended. This was unconfirmed for a while but we have the confirmation here.
Condé Nast has suspended a Bon Appétit video editor amid an internal investigation
The next big event was Matt Hunziker’s suspension. He was suspended explicitly for negative tweets about how Condé Nast/Bon Appétit was handling the situation (evidenced in this post). Some of the test kitchen crew voiced their support for him at this revelation, but then were promptly shut down as revealed a month or so later (August 3rd, 2020). This is probably also why the test kitchen seems to have been avoiding discussing it since. It was announced in a memo sent on August 7th, 2020, that he is no longer suspended.
3 Bon Appétit Test Kitchen stars are walking, in a sign that Condé Nast's burgeoning YouTube empire will never be the same
This is a Business Insider article that was locked behind a paywall, so is now on google docs. It sheds light on months of silence, and demonstrates how Condé Nast/Bon Appétit continues to fail the people of color that they employ. As a result, Priya Krishna, Rick Martinez, and Sohla El-Waylly have left (August 6, 2020).
How has Bon Appétit reacted to this? How is Bon Appétit changing?
These are Bon Appétit’s public statements. There have also been a number of administrative changes, including Adam Rapoport’s resignation (June 8th, 2020), Oren Katzeff’s demotion from president of Condé Nast Entertainment (July 31st, 2020), and Sonia Chopra’s introduction as Executive Editor (August 6th, 2020).
In June Proskauer Rose (notorious for union-busting) began to conduct an investigation into inequity at Bon Appétit. Unsurprisingly, in a memo sent on August 7th, 2020, global HR officer Stan Duncan revealed that Proskauer Rose had “not uncovered evidence that race played a factor in setting compensation for any video team members.” In the same memo it’s revealed that since the investigation is over, both Alex Delany and Matt Hunziker are expected to return from suspension. Here is Alex Delany’s statement regarding his suspension (posted August 10th, 2020).
According to Priya Krishna, now former test kitchen personality, their claims to work on diversity, inclusion, and equitable pay are “all lip service” (August 6th, 2020).
Where else can I find information?
@tammieetc on Twitter has been investigating.
@joe_rosenthal on Instagram has also been investigating.
What I tend to post here is backed by news articles or directly from the staff involved; these two have real connections in Bon Appétit that I don’t. So sometimes the sources for them are “I’ve been told by a BA/CNE staffer”, and it’s up to you whether you decide to trust that or not.
When will videos come back?
In a memo written global HR officer Stan Duncan, sent Friday, August 7th, 2020, the plan is “for BA video production to begin in September with some returning talent, in addition to new contributors which we’ll be announcing in the coming week”. The “coming week” would refer to the week of August 9th through August 15th.
Has anyone left?
Priya Krishna, Rick Martinez, and Sohla El-Waylly are officially leaving the video component of Bon Appétit. Read their social media statements here (all were posted August 6th, 2020).
3 of Bon Appétit's Test Kitchen stars of color are departing the video channel after failed contract negotiations
The above article was at one point free, but for some asinine reason got moved to premium, so it’s a google doc now. It details exactly how they were lowballed in contract negotiations.
A day after these three announced that they are leaving, Molly Baz and Gaby Melian joined them (August 7th, 2020). Carla Lalli Music announced that she’s also asked to be released from her video contract days later (August 12th, 2020). Amiel Stanek made a similar statement about asking to leave his video contract about a week after the first three left (August 15th, 2020).
Gaby is going to remain test kitchen manager (as said in her personal statement). Priya, Sohla, Molly, and Carla will definitely continue with the editorial side in some capacity (as evidenced by Rachel Premack’s articles and both Molly and Carla’s personal statements). Rick might be! The same author says different things across two articles; in one, he’s severing ties. In the other, he’s continuing to freelance.
2 Black Staff Members Quit Bon Appétit as Tensions Over Race Continue
Also on August 7th, Ryan Walker-Hartshorn and Jesse Sparks completed their final day of work at Bon Appétit. Both were editorial staff. You can read more about Ryan Walker-Hartshorn’s experience as assistant to the editor in chief here, and can read Jesse Sparks’ full twitter thread of his experience here.