Bon Appétit's week from hell: how a deluge of allegations around the publication's 'toxic' work culture left the magazine in chaos

On May 31, the Bon Appétit Instagram account posted about its plan to address the "racial and political issues" in the food world — a move that prompted discussion about the publication's diversity.

On June 8, a photo of Rapoport in stereotypical Puerto Rican clothing resurfaced.

Among the Bon Appétit employees to call out Rapoport's behavior was assistant food editor Sohla El-Waylly, who opened up a larger discussion about the publication's treatment of people of color.

Later that evening, Rapoport resigned as editor-in-chief.

On June 9, a photo of a Confederate-flag cake, baked by Bon Appétit drinks editor Alex Delany, resurfaced online.

On the same day that the Confederate-flag cake photo resurfaced, a Vine video clip in which Delany uses a homophobic slur began circulating on Instagram.

Also on June 9, offensive tweets from Matt Druckor, a vice president at Condé Nast who previously oversaw Bon Appétit's video content, surfaced online.

14 Bon Appétit employees and contributors told Business Insider's Rachel Premack that they felt the magazine was a toxic environment for people of color.

On the evening of June 9, Business Insider's Rachel Premack reported that over a dozen former and current contributors and employees of Bon Appétit, all of whom identified as people of color, felt that nonwhite employees were socially and professionally "slighted" at the outlet. 

Ryan Walker-Hartshorn, who worked as Rapoport's assistant for over two years, told Business Insider that she never received a pay increase on her $35,300 annual base salary and had been unable to pay her rent for the last three months. Upon asking Rapoport for a raise, she said, he suggested that the position at Bon Appétit might "not be the right job" for her. 

"I am the only Black woman on his staff," Walker-Hartshorn said. "He treats me like the help."

Other employees told Business Insider that issues at the company extended beyond Rapoport's insensitivity — the institution, they said, treats people of color as "second class" to white employees. This took the form of less lucrative contracts for people of color in the video space, excluding nonwhite employees from various "social and professional groups", and underrepresenting (or even misrepresenting) stories from "nonwhite backgrounds" 

"There is a big difference in terms of how they monetarily value the white employees versus the people of color," Sohla El-Waylly, whose Instagram stories about her experience with the company previously went viral, told Business Insider.

A representative from Condé Nast responded to several of the allegations made by employees and circulating on social media, telling Business Insider that the company was "listening and are taking seriously the concerns raised" by Bon Appétit employees.

The representative also said the company was "accelerating" its Diversity and Inclusion report, which will be published this summer, along with a pay-equity analysis to be published at the end of 2020.

In an email to Business Insider, Rapoport denied the accusations that the now-infamous photo was an example of brownface. "On the record: I was not wearing makeup or face coloring of any sort in that photograph," he wrote. Walter-Hatshorn said that Rapoport keeps a framed copy of the photo in his desk. 

On June 10, Bon Appétit senior food editor Andy Baraghani responded to Alex Delany's offensive Vine — only to be called out on Twitter for his own alleged problematic behavior.

On June 10, Matt Duckor left Condé Nast.

Am email from Condé Nast Entertainment's president, Oren Katzeff, obtained by Business Insider's Rachel Premack, confirmed that Duckor, who was the head of video for Bon Appétit and other Condé Nast brands such as Architectural Digest and Vogue, had left the company.

An interim replacement will be announced "as soon as possible," Katzeff said in his email.

The change in leadership followed criticism of Duckor's past racist and homophobic tweets, as well as reports that he failed to diversify Bon Appétit's video content to include nonwhite talent.

Katzeff's email thanked employees for their "honesty and candor" over the last few days.

"We've already started the process of reviewing our practices and over the next week we'll be bringing forward a plan of action centered on diversity and inclusion," he wrote. "We'll be working with you in the key areas we need to improve — our talent selection and hiring (both in front of and behind the camera), our programming strategy, pilot development, our compensation practices, and more."

Condé Nast and Duckor did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. 

On June 10, a statement was posted to the Bon Appétit website, titled "A Long-Overdue Apology, and Where We Go From Here."