Alton Brown makes an Auschwitz joke — then apologizes
Alton Brown Image by Getty/Ilya S. Savenok/Stringer
By PJ Grisar November 11, 2020
Last night, Food Network host Alton Brown — a lifelong conservative but a Biden voter this time around — tossed a query out to the internet about the future dress code of America: “Do you think the camp uniforms will be striped, like the ones at Auschwitz or will plaid be in vogue?”
What the hell man? Bad form @altonbrown. Not a good look. @AntisemitismCow pic.twitter.com/eUvnvCgZZD
— Johnny Kunza (@johnkunza) November 11, 2020
Brown, who later deleted the tweet, was immediately challenged by a number of Twitter users who, rightly, resented his utterly excessive and unnecessary invocation of the Holocaust. When one user said, “Yikes dude. Take it easy.” Brown replied, “F—k you.” He also made a reference to the fact that his value at any future concentration camp might be lesser as he has “no gold filings.” Wow. Way to make it even worse somehow.
Even those who sympathized with Brown’s apparent intimation that, given President Trump’s apparent coup-in-progress, we are now particularly vulnerable to totalitarianism, wasted no time calling the Deacon of Food Science out for his offensive reference. Some screenshotted the tweets. Antisemitism Cow mooed. Some were moved to compare him unfavorably to the self-proclaimed Mayor of Flavortown, Guy Fieri.
the Virgin Alton Brown vs. the Chad Guy Fieri pic.twitter.com/BpuwiXcxVl
— Clara Riemann sum (@ramencult) November 11, 2020
Brown has issued a mea culpa, tweeting, “I apologize for the flippant reference I made to the Holocaust in my tweet last night. It was not a reference I made for humorous effect but rather to reflect how deeply frightened I am for our country. It was a very poor use of judgement and in poor taste.”
Got it. I guess.
We’re all worried here, Alton, but that’s no reason to trot out other people’s traumas to make your point.
PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
