Mario Batali: Celebrity chef gives up stake in all of his restaurants, a year after sexual misconduct allegations

Celebrity chef Mario Batali is giving up his stake in all of his restaurants, a year after being accused of sexual assault.

In December 2017, the 58-year-old celebrity was accused by several women of sexual assault at restaurants in New York restaurants he either owned or had a stake in, as the MeToo movement gathered momentum.

Earlier this year, it was reported police probing the claims had closed the cases, either because the alleged incidents were beyond the statute of limitations, or else they could not find sufficient evidence to bring a prosecution.

Now, it has been reported that a 20-year partnership the Seattle-born chef enjoyed with the Bastianich family of restaurateurs was formally dissolved on Wednesday. The New York Times said Batali was also selling his shares in Eataly, the chain of luxury Italian supermarkets.

“[Batali] will no longer profit from the restaurants in any way, shape or form,” Tanya Bastianich Manuali, who now head operations at a new company, told the newspaper.

Batali, who has investments in restaurants across the country, authored a dozen books about food and appeared on shows such as “Iron Chef America”, confirmed the news in a statement.

He said he had sold his shares in an operation that involved 16 restaurants, including New York’s Babbo and Del Posto, to Ms Manuali and her brother, Joe Bastianich.

“I have reached an agreement with Joe and no longer have any stake in the restaurants we built together,” he said. “I wish him the best of luck in the future.”

When allegations against the chef first emerged, he said he could not remember the alleged incidents but offered an online apology.

“My behaviour was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility,” he said. “Sharing the joys of Italian food, tradition and hospitality with all of you, each week, is an honour and privilege. Without the support of all of you — my fans — I would never have a forum in which to expound on this.”

Some said the value to the apology was undermined by the fact that he then went on to offer readers a recipe for cinnamon rolls.

The chef was among numerous celebrities and members of industry and the media to face accusations of sexual assault or misconduct amid the MeToo movement, that gathered pace in the autumn of 2017. The movement, in which women and men shared their stories of sexual assault and harassment, were in part fuelled by accusations levelled at Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

He has denied the accusations but has appeared in court where he was charged with raping a woman in a New York hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing a sex act on another woman at his apartment in 2006.