This week is still young, but so far it has abounded with a spirit of transparency and a reckoning with past misdeeds in the world of media. The latest iteration of that reckoning has led to the resignation of a prominent editor over charges that he created a toxic work environment. The unearthing of a photo of that same editor in brownface didn’t help matters, either.
The editor in question is Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport, who resigned on Monday. As Marina Fang at HuffPost reports, journalist Tammie Teclemariam discovered a photo of Rapoport wearing brownface in a photo posted to Instagram in 2013, which led to a very understandable outcry from the food and media communities.
I do not know why Adam Rapoport simply doesn’t write about Puerto Rican food for @bonappetit himself!!! https://t.co/rW0k5tjMoS pic.twitter.com/odZnFLz2gd
— chez tammie (@tammieetc) June 8, 2020
As Madeleine Davies at Eater reports, the photo opened the door to larger questions about the publication’s corporate culture and its handling of racial inequality. This included the revelation from editor Sohla El-Waylly that she had not been paid for on-camera appearances, unlike her white colleagues.
In case you’ve missed it: Not only is Sohla one of the only front facing Bon Appetit editors to denounce EIC Adam Rapoport doing brown face, apparently only white BA editors are paid for their video appearances. Here’s her Instagram story just now pic.twitter.com/h0uPMlJYHN
— Sarah Manavis (@sarahmanavis) June 8, 2020
A number of other writers and editors also raised issues with the publication’s handling of racial matters, putting the spotlight on a work environment that was frequently hostile to writers of color.
Later that day, Rapoport announced his resignation via a statement on Instagram:
The staff has been working hard to evolve the brand in a positive, more diverse direction. I will do all I can to support that work, but I am not the one to lead that work. I am deeply sorry for my failings and to the position in which I put the editors of BA.
The brownface photo may have been what set Rapoport’s resignation into motion, but the issues that it unearthed had been present for far longer — making this particular reckoning feel like one that had been coming for a while.
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