Details of Mario Batali’s 'rape room' surface
A woman who chose to remain anonymous spoke to ’60 Minutes’ and detailed chef Mario Batali’s alleged sexual assault. She accused him of drugging her and assaulting her.
Mario Batali, one of the most famous chefs in the world, was accused of a string of disturbing crimes by a former employee who spoke with CBS News on Sunday — crimes including drugging and sexually assaulting her inside a New York City restaurant, in a third-floor space notoriously known by employees as the “rape room.”
The NYPD also confirmed it would be investigating allegations against the celebrity chef.
WARNING: DISTURBING DETAILS BELOW
The woman told CBS News' “60 Minutes” on Sunday that she woke up surrounded by broken bottles with scratches on her legs and semen on her skirt.
“It gets completely foggy for me. And this is — part of the messy, scary part for me, there is a part where it — it all disappears,” said the woman, who asked CBS to remain anonymous. “I remember a moment where I was on his lap, kissing him. Like, he was kissing me. And then I remember throwing up — in a toilet. And that is all.”
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As The New York Post reported, she said she recalled waking up at dawn on the third floor of the downtown Manhattan restaurant The Spotted Pig, owned by Ken Friedman, a friend of Batali's.
The woman said: “I woke up by myself on the floor, I don’t know where I am, of an empty room, wooden floor. I see broken bottles. The first thing I think is, ‘I’ve been drugged.’ That was the first thing I thought is, ‘I’ve been — I’ve been assaulted.’”
She said that after the alleged assault she called a crisis hotline, went to a hospital for examination, and reported the episode to the New York Police Department. “They tried getting me to file a report. They tried, they tried. But I — you know, a young actress, no resources, no money. I couldn’t. I couldn’t do it.”
The NYPD has confirmed a probe into allegations against Batali following the latest accusations, though they did not clarify which allegations they would be investigating.
In a statement to Fox News on Sunday night, the restaurant firm B&B Hospitality Group said: “The accounts tonight were chilling and deeply disturbing. This was the first we learned of them. Our partnership with Mr. Batali is ending.”
It added: “He has been our partner and close friend, but the actions he has acknowledged required us to separate wholly so that we reinforce our core values for our employees and our guests.”
“The Spotted Pig is committed to providing a work environment free of any form of harassment and has ensured in recent years that all proper policies and procedures for handling employee relations matters are in place,” the restaurant said in a statement Monday. “After Ken Friedman was informed by employees of their being uncomfortable with Mario's behavior many years ago, Mario was told he could no longer hold parties at the restaurant.”
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Batali has been accused of sexual harassment by nine women.
Several women who worked for Batali accused the former “Chew” host of “inappropriate touching in a pattern of behavior that spans at least two decades,” Eater reported in December. The chef apologized in a statement, saying “the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted.”
“I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted. That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses,” he wrote.
Fans, however, lambasted Batali, who owns 26 restaurants, for including a recipe in the newsletter with his apology.
Batali since has been dropped from ABC’s “The Chew” and stepped away from the day-to-day operations of his restaurant businesses.
His business owners added Sunday: “We had taken a number of steps in the last six months to separate Mr. Batali from the business, including immediately removing him from any operations this past December and asking Ms. (Nancy) Silverton and Ms. (Lidia) Bastianich to take on business-wide leadership roles and responsibilities.”
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In a report published last winter in The New York Times, 10 women accused Friedman of sexual harassment and misconduct and creating a toxic work environment. He went on leave and apologized, telling the paper that his behavior “can accurately be described at times as abrasive, rude and frankly wrong.”
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