Bon Appétit Test Kitchen star Alex Delany apologized after his co-star called him out for using a homophobic slur
- Bon Appétit Drinks Editor Alex Delany posted a lengthy apology to Instagram months after he was called out for old offensive posts on his social media accounts.
- Delany's co-star Andy Baraghani initially posted a lengthy statement to his Instagram story in June that responded to the resurfacing of an old Vine of Delany saying a homophobic slur.
- But a Korean-American former Bon Appétit staffer also accused Baraghani of using his popularity at the publication to undermine her work twice — all because of what she described as "petty feelings" Baraghani had toward the "Queer Eye" star Antoni Porowski.
Two months after he was on the receiving end of his coworker's callout, Bon Appétit Drinks Editor Alex Delany has apologized.
In a lengthy note posted to his Instagram account, Delany responded to old offensive posts of his, including a Vine of him using a homophobic slur, that resurfaced in June.
At the time, fellow Bon Appétit face Andy Baraghani wrote that Delany's post was "hurtful and triggering and all too familiar." In his apology, Delany wrote "I said a word that has been used to destroy the fiber of LGBTQ+ human beings, a word that causes hurt and rage and helplessness that I will never know. I used a word like that to make a joke on Vine. That's privilege."
Delany's apology included him addressing his work experience and salary at Bon Appétit, a Condé Nast magazine with a popular YouTube series that devolved into chaos in June. Four of the video personalities at the publication have since announced their departure from its staff, although Delany said he will be staying on.
For days at a time, new accusations and evidence of microaggressions arose at the "Test Kitchen" workplace — all contributing to what 14 current and former staffers of the food publication told Business Insider was a workplace where people of color had been treated like a second class compared with white employees.
Delany's old posts prompted a response from Baraghani, but they included more than just his use of a homophobic slur
Delany was caught in a flurry of resurfaced posts that painted him as insensitive. For one — a picture of a Confederate-flag cake Delany says he posted to Tumblr when he was 17 — he immediately apologized.
But other posts, including an old Vine of Delany using a homophobic slur (he refers to a pile of sticks as "a bunch of f------ lying on top of each other"), were left unaddressed until now. Delany never responded to Insider's request for comment.
"When I was in high school and college, I wrote and said things that were racist, homophobic, and sexist on the internet," Delany wrote in his apology. "I want to be clear that it isn't anything less than those things. There is no gray area. That's what they were. And for those things I said and wrote, I am incredibly sorry."
Baraghani, Bon Appétit's senior food editor, posted a lengthy statement in June about Delany's resurfaced Vine to his own Instagram story, writing that it was "hurtful and triggering and all too familiar."
In his full statement, Baraghani wrote:
In addition to his old Vine, some old tweets and more old Tumblr posts of Delany's also resurfaced that show an objectifying view of women.
"I did not check–or even consider thinking about–my tone or my thoughts," Delany wrote in his apology. "Words written by the hand of someone who does not acknowledge the space outside their own experiences aren't words that should ever be written. There's no room in this world for them."
"But I wrote them on Tumblr and Twitter anyway. I wrote callously and disrespectfully about women and cultures that were not mine, without any understanding of the weight that those words carried. My words were not only hurtful but idiotic, typed by someone with a complete lack of emotional intelligence."
Accusations against Baraghani of microaggressions at Bon Appétit also emerged the same day he posted about Delany
Baraghani himself was also accused of microaggressions toward a coworker. A former Bon Appétit staffer, Alyse Whitney, wrote on Twitter that Baraghani tried to have two of her stories killed (a term journalists use to describe a story that was assigned or completed but not published).
In her tweets, Whitney, a Korean American, wrote that Baraghani tried to have her profile of the "Queer Eye" star Antoni Porowski killed because of what she described as his "petty feelings" toward Porowski.
"This was the second time that andy used his popularity to sway editorial decisions and undercut my work," Whitney wrote. "Both times he went directly to my editor to try and kill a story based on petty feelings about antoni porowski. he never spoke to me about it. both times i cried at my desk."
Whitney did eventually publish multiple stories at Bon Appétit featuring Porowski.
Baraghani didn't respond to Insider's request for comment.
- Read more:
- Bon Appétit's editor in chief just resigned — but staffers of color say there's a 'toxic' culture of microaggressions and exclusion that runs far deeper than one man
- After Bon Appétit's top editor resigned over complaints of racial bias, offensive tweets from Condé Nast's VP surfaced
- A Bon Appétit editor has apologized after a photo of a Confederate-flag cake he made resurfaced
- The internet is rallying behind Bon Appétit's Sohla El-Waylly after she accused the publication of pay inequity