Molly Baz said that she will no longer appear in Bon Appétit videos after three Bon Appétit stars of color announced they were leaving the video channel
- Bon Appétit senior food editor Molly Baz said on Twitter today that she has asked Condé Nast Entertainment to release her from the video obligations of her contract.
- Baz said on Twitter that she will no longer appear in Bon Appétit videos after three stars of color — Sohla El-Waylly, Priya Krishna, and Rick Martinez — announced that they were leaving the video side following failed contracted negotiations.
- Over the past two months, Bon Appétit has been reckoning with what staffers of color called a "toxic" environment that also left many not being fairly compensated for video appearances.
Bon Appétit senior food editor Molly Baz announced today on Twitter that she will no longer appear on Bon Appétit Test Kitchen videos following yesterday's departure of Sohla El-Waylly, Priya Krishna, and Rick Martinez from the video channel after failed contract negotiations.
"I'm sad. I'm disappointed. I'm frustrated along with all of you. Yesterday we lost three valuable members of our video team," Baz wrote in a statement that she published on Twitter. "I support their decisions unequivocally and am extremely disheartened that Condé Nast Entertainment was unable to provide them contracts that they feel were fair and equitable."
Yesterday, Business Insider's Rachel Premack reported that El-Waylly, an assistant food editor, Martinez, a contributing food editor, and Krishna, a contributing writer, said that they would no longer appear in Bon Appétit videos following failed contract negotiations that they said would still result in them being paid less than their white peers. El-Waylly will continue in her associate food editor role writing for both Bon Appétit's magazine and website. Krishna and Martinez will freelance on Bon Appétit's editorial side.
Bon Appétit has been undergoing a reckoning over the past several months. In June, its editor in chief Adam Rapoport resigned over backlash over a resurfaced photo of him in brownface, but Business Insider's Rachel Premack reported that staffers of color said that BA had a "toxic" culture of microaggressions and exlusion that ran far past Rapoport himself. Premack also reported that Bon Appétit's video stars of color did not have the same lucrative contracts as their white coworkers, with El-Waylly saying that she never received compensation for the videos she either hosted or appeared in.
In her statement, Baz said that she had asked Condé Nast Entertainment to release her from the video obligations of her contract, meaning that she will no longer appear on the Bon Appétit YouTube channel. She also said that she will continue to work at the magazine itself.
"I sincerely hope for the sake of a brand and a group of people I deeply love, that a diverse and inclusive video program is coming," Baz wrote.
- Read more:
- 3 of Bon Appétit's Test Kitchen stars of color are departing the video channel after failed contract negotiations
- 3 Bon Appétit Test Kitchen stars are walking, in a sign that Condé Nast's burgeoning YouTube empire will never be the same
- Bon Appétit's editor in chief just resigned — but staffers of color say there's a 'toxic' culture of microaggressions and exlusion that runs far deeper than one man
- 3 of Bon Appétit's stars are departing the popular YouTube channel. Here's how a deluge of allegations of a 'toxic' work culture left the magazine in chaos.