Instagram's 'The Fat Jew' signed on to host a food event and now all the restaurants involved are backing out
But the shots aren't coming from Internet meme creators whose work has appeared uncredited on his wildly popular (and lucrative) Instagram account.
This time, the heat is coming from someone who actually plays with fire, a respected test kitchen cook.
Kenji López, the managing culinary director of the website Serious Eats, posted a message on Facebook yesterday, saying that himself and his publication had withdrawn from the New York City Wine & Food Festival's "Late-Night Ramen Party" (Oct. 17) because Ostrovsky had suddenly been added as its host.
Since the post went up, four restaurants (Jin Ramen, Ivan Ramen, Yuji Ramen, Mu Ramen) and one artisan noodle maker (Sun Ramen) have reportedly backed out of the event.
In the Facebook statement, López says he found out that Ostrovsky would be hosting the event (which Lòpez and his team had been organizing for months) on the Internet.
Here's an excerpt from López's Facebook post, which has since been deleted:
"I opened up the event's official website and saw not the event we'd been planning, but The Fat Jew's ramen party. His face, his name, all listed above ours, despite the fact that we were neither consulted nor alerted to his involvement in the event.
The Fat Jew is the antithesis of everything I represent in the media world ... He is a plagiarist, a thief, a misogynist, and absolutely the wrong choice of co-host for a food event, or really any respectable event."
López went on to link to articles about Ostrovsky's "plagiarist" Instagram account, as well as a video showing his alleged sexual harassment of an intern. In his interview with Vulture, Ostrovky said that he's working to retroactively attribute all of his social media posts featuring memes or creative works that aren't his own.
New York's Grub Street reports that more than half of the event's tickets ($150 each) had been sold prior to Ostrovsky's involvement. All net proceeds of the event benefit Food Bank For New York City and the No Kid Hungry campaign.
Writes López, "I'm 100% certain [the event] will be sold out, thus the charities will still be receiving as much support as if we'd stayed or not."
Model and soon-to-be cookbook author Chrissy Teigen was the original host of the event, but she canceled for reasons unknown and Ostrovky.
Business Insider contacted Ostrovsky, López, and the New York City Wine & Food Festival for a comment. We'll update this story if we hear from any of the parties involved.