25 Women Accuse Celebrity Chef John Besh Of Fostering An Environment Of Sexual Harassment

Over 30 women are coming out and accusing Hollywood director James Toback of sexual harassment. Their stories are harrowing and reminiscent of Weinstein’s accusers’ stories.

Hollywood has a serious problem.

Now, there’s this.

About 25 women have accused celebrity chef John Besh of fostering an environment of sexual harassment.

A Louisiana celebrity restaurateur whose TV appearances include Iron Chef, Tonight With Seth Meyers and even NCIS, has been accused of sexual assault and creating a ‘bro culture’ in his establishments.

 

In a discrimination filing, John Besh, 49, is accused of performing oral sex on a colleague after he ‘insisted [she] drink heavily’ and became ‘easily overwhelmed’ by him; he says they were in a consensual relationship.

 

And 24 other women have complained about a male-dominated culture in which they were harassed, groped, humiliated and mocked in both another filing and interviews with NOLA.com. 

It’s pretty bad.

The accusation of sexual assault comes from an unnamed former employee of Besh’s in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filing from December.

 

She alleges that she had a sexual relationship with him for months while working under him, and that he had ‘continued to attempt to coerce (her) to submit to his sexual overtures.’

However, Besh claims their relationship was “consensual.”

Responding to the allegations, Besh characterized their relationship as a ‘consensual’ one that he had ‘thoughtlessly’ engaged in.

 

‘I also regret any harm this may have caused to my second family at the restaurant group, and sincerely apologize to anyone past and present who has worked for me who found my behavior as unacceptable as I do,’ he said.

 

‘I alone am entirely responsible for my moral failings. This is not the way the head of a company like ours should have acted, let alone a husband and father.’

 

He also said his company, Besh Restaurant Group, has an ‘unyielding commitment to treating everyone with respect and dignity, regardless of gender, race, age and sexual preference.’

 

But complaints from several women say that Besh oversaw a ‘bro culture’ at his businesses – and some of them say that it may have been influenced by his own actions.

The company’s social media manager,  Lindsey Reynolds, said she was hit on “virtually every day.” As mentioned before, 25 women total have made similar claims.

Another complainant was Madie Robison, who was hired out of college, aged 22, to be a graphic designer at the company.

 

She said that there had been workdays scheduled at a senior employee’s pool, which she felt compelled to attend.

 

‘All pool days that I participated in involved drinking in our swimsuits and the male chefs/Octavio coming to visit us at the pool,’ she said.

 

The second time, she said, a chef began ‘talking about getting some naked massage. That was when I was like, “Ew, this is a little weird.”‘

 

On another occasion, she said Mantilla had introduced her to a group of men in business suits while she was still in her swimsuit, telling them she was ‘our design goddess’.

 

And she says that Mantilla touched her ‘excessively,’ saying ‘first it was your leg and then it was your lower back… In my mind, it always got a little worse.’

 

Another colleague told the paper that she had seen Mantilla touching Robison, but that Robison had said she didn’t complain because ‘I don’t want to embarrass him, he’s my boss.’

There are seriously disturbing stories here.

In pizza restaurant Domenica, a waitress who did not wish to be named said that in the two years she worked there she was sexually harassed by a male colleague.

 

‘He would say, “Hey, you want to see a picture of a baby’s arm?” And he’d show you and it would be his penis,’ she said.

 

She quit in 2015, just before her first child war born; she said the man had asked repeatedly for a sample of her breast milk ‘because he wanted to drink it.’

And just for the record, some of the women tried to report the harassment.

Another waitress there, Allison Consoli, said she tried to file complaints about the same member of staff four times.

 

On a fifth occasion, she said, the management stood and watched him harass her to the point of tears.

 

‘He’d always talk about anal sex with me or using toys on me or me being a “backdoor beauty,” she said

This is all so messed up.

John Besh released this statement:

‘Two years ago, I deeply hurt those I love by thoughtlessly engaging in a consensual relationship with one member of my team.

 

‘Since then I have been seeking to rebuild my marriage and come to terms with my reckless actions given the profound love I have for my wife, my boys and my Catholic faith.

 

‘I also regret any harm this may have caused to my second family at the restaurant group, and sincerely apologize to anyone past and present who has worked for me who found my behavior as unacceptable as I do.

 

‘I alone am entirely responsible for my moral failings. This is not the way the head of a company like ours should have acted, let alone a husband and father.

 

‘But it should not taint our incredible team of more than 1,000 employees, nor undermine our unyielding commitment to treating everyone with respect and dignity, regardless of gender, race, age and sexual preference.’

And the Besh Restaurant Group released this statement:

‘We have learned recently that a number of women in our company feel that we have not had a clear mechanism in place to allow them to voice concerns about receiving the respect they deserve on the job.

 

‘I want to assure all of our employees that if even a single person feels this way, it is one person too many and that ends now.

 

‘While we’ve had a complaint procedure in place that complies with all existing laws, we now recognize that, as a practical matter, we needed to do more than what the law requires and we have revamped our training, education and procedures accordingly.

 

‘Now that we have learned of these concerns, we believe going forward that everyone at our company will be fully aware of the clear procedures that are now in place to safeguard against anyone feeling that his or her concerns will not be heard and addressed free from retaliation.’

We obviously shouldn’t assume that EVERY man accused of sexual harassment is guilty, but with the Weinstein scandal fresh on everyone’s minds, people are quickly jumping to conclusions.

There certainly is a problem, especially in Hollywood. That’s undeniable.

Thoughts?

h/t Daily Mail