Major stuff is going down at Bon Appétit. The popular food magazine is dealing with a number of scandals, including one involving its drinks editor, Alex Delany.
This week, Delany issued an apology after a picture of a Confederate flag cake he baked ten years ago resurfaced online.
The photograph was originally shared to Tumblr on July 24, 2010 when Delany was just 17 years old. In the post, he wrote that he made the cake because his best friend was moving to South Carolina.
“To honor her new home, my friends and I felt the need to express some southern heritage in cake form,” he wrote. “Such a glorious cake for such a sad occasion.”
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In his apology on Tuesday, Delany explained that he wrote the post when he was a teenager. Still, he called his actions “despicable” and “shameful” said he should have known better, adding that he “cannot apologize intensely enough.”
“I know it doesn’t cut it, but I am truly sorry,” he wrote. “The significance of the failure is not lost on me.”
That may have been the end of it… Until a Vine video of Delany using an antigay slur then surfaced online later that day.
In the video, which was recorded when he was 20, Delany asks “You guys wanna see a bunch of f*ggots lying on top of each other?” before the video cuts to a pile of sticks.
Nu er den her kommet frem i dag, med Alex Delanyhttps://t.co/HzbpLE6hpb
— Mathias Dahl-Spangby (@DahlSpangby) June 10, 2020
Bon Appétit’s senior food editor Andy Baraghani posted a lengthy statement about the video to his Instagram story, calling the video “hurtful and triggering and all too familiar.”
“There is a vine circulating around the internet in which my colleague, @alex_delany, uses a gay slur. I don’t know how much more hurt I can take at the moment,” Baraghani wrote.
He continued, “The word takes me back to being bullied and harassed as a kid. To my adult years dealing with the kind of toxic masculinity that I experienced in kitchens and the workforce. It’s not a term I will tolerate. It’s never appropriate.”
But it doesn’t stop there.
Shortly after the Vine video resurfaced, so did a bunch of old tweets and more old Tumblr posts written by Delany.
This time, he was caught making disparaging remarks about women, including joking about having sex with underage girls, complaining about women being too “vanilla” in bed, and trashing gender studies classes.
sure seems like @alex_delany has a lot of thoughts about women pic.twitter.com/wMVH5PySaE
— Manchego Arepas (@LM_Bets) June 9, 2020
Twitter has had a lot to say about the matter…
I’m pretty sure he does deserves to lose his job. Please take a look at the hurt it caused his colleague Andy Baraghani via his IG page
— Michael Vallarelli (@QueensYankeeFan) June 10, 2020
When I saw that video of Alex Delaney saying f**ot it felt like a punch to the gut. In a way it felt like hearing a close friend say something homophobic (which I know is kinda insane)
— (@BannedFromZoom) June 11, 2020
I’m retracting my statements about loving Alex Delaney. I don’t support a confederate baking homophobe
— taylor alise spinnicchio (@taylorspin) June 11, 2020
Yikes… Alex Delaney…
Come on. Come ON… I was rooting for you. I really was. At 17, 10 years ago, you baked a confederate flag cake…
It was a bad choice, but something you can atone for.
Your ‘bundle of sticks’ vine though… that’s not cool. That one was recent and hurt.
— ❄️【Nix】❄️ (@CluelessNix_) June 10, 2020
So you’re telling me Alex Delaney has both made a confederate flag cake and used the f-slur in a video as a “joke” and instead of addressing it he has now deleted his Twitter and blog. Gross. #BonAppetit
— Stefanie ️ (@vmarshmallow) June 10, 2020
Alex Delaney getting cancelled for saying f*ggot on his vine account and making a confederate flag cake I’ve always had a feeling about him too I did! I did! It’s true!
— REA (@IorcIe) June 10, 2020
But not everyone feels Delaney should be fired, noting that he was very young at the time and that people change and should be allowed to atone for their mistakes.
Alex Delaney from Bon Appetit made a few insensitive and “edgy” jokes when he was 17 and 20, respectively. Are we seriously cancelling him over that?? He’s 27 now folks. People can grow. Delaney obviously isn’t racist and homophobic.
— RAIN ON ME (@aquarian_tears) June 10, 2020
People are really trying to get Alex Delaney canceled over a goodbye cake he made as a teenager?
— Tony D’Ambrosio (@ToneDeezy) June 10, 2020
If BA Twitter actually cancels Delaney over the cake pic from god knows how long ago that’s ridiculous. Dude has been pushing for donations and action since protests started and anyone who thinks a joke tumblr post actually represents his politics is just looking to hate him
— Alex Buhse (@RubaDubBub) June 9, 2020
Alex Delaney was a kid when he made some jokes. He wasn’t a grown man. Do not cancel Alex. I am a gay man of color and I stand by him. Not everyone deserves to canceled. If he does where do we stop. We will all be canceled. We all have done dumb things.
— Marc Soliz (@SolizwithaZ) June 11, 2020
Neither Delany nor Bon Appétit have not issued any comment on the Vine video or his past remarks about women.
Related: ‘Flash’ actor Hartley Sawyer fired over racist and homophobic tweets, joking about date rape
WSnyder
While I’m proud I’ve never had to worry about having said racist or sexist things to come back to haunt me, I still thank God for the fact I spent my youth in the pre-Internet/Social Media days. There’s certainly things I said [usually off color jokes] I’m not proud of. But other than some friend’s failing memories, there’s no proof! Seriously though, this ‘Apology Culture’ we’re turning into for some stupid stuff done in our teens and youth just needs to be let go. YES, there may be some things said/done that need an apology in the here and now [truly vile, hurtful things], but for the most part, we’re seeing just stupid sh*t done by people in their teens and twenties that doesn’t even merit scrutiny. I also agree there may be some people who would deny past actions and then we certainly need to see the receipts to call them out. What we’re mostly seeing now though are vengeful social media ‘archaeologists’ digging up people’s pasts just to increase their own street cred.
ShiningSex
First off, he wasn’t a kid when it was done. Also, things you do or say can always haunt you or come back to bite in the ass. If that’s the case, then a moron should never had done it or said it to begin with. I am in my 40s and never said anything racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic. NEVER.
This is not about street cred and if you think it is, then you obviously have a lot hiding in your closet.
WSnyder
ShiningSex – Why do you feel the need to go personal against people stating their opinion? I have nothing in MY closet that concerns YOU. You can make you’re OWN case and state you’re own opinion without having to whip the claws out and slashing at other people, it’s not becoming Gurl. Now, that b*tchy attitude might come back to haunt YOU someday and wouldn’t that be fun! And Poetic.
Inspector 57
WSnyder, this A-hole was 20 f*****g years old when he POSTED about “f***ots.”
Do NOT tell me that he was too young to know how hurtful that word is.
Do NOT tell me that we are living in an “Apology Culture.”
People need to be held accountable for their actions.
Period.
WSnyder
Inspector 57 [aka Flamethrower] – Anger issues? Just out trolling? Every entry you put out here sounds like you’re one sound bite away from being Alex Jones. You need to have a few beers or glasses of Merlot and take a chill pill. Not a single post expressing your opinion, just haphazardly spewing garbage. You should have a video chat with your cardiologist before coming back here sweetie because I think you’re gonna have a heartgasm.
ShiningSex
Hopefully no one works with him ever again. When someone says “our southern heritage”, what southern heritage?? you lost the war against owning slaves. Is that the southern heritage?
Calling some our southern heritage is just racism. We know what you are really saying. I am from the south and I know exactly what those idiots are trying to say. Trump says it all of the time and he’s the grand dragon of the morons.
jmg619
Yeah it’s funny how people claim the “southern heritage” card when it comes to that flag. So you are proud of that flag’s heritage of what it represented back then? The fight to own slaves cuz y’all were too lazy to do the work yourselves?? I never could understand that kind of logic from southerns.
jsmu
This weary little c*nt needed fired years ago. And it’s only 27?!? It looks middle-aged already. Amazing how a life of hate and sh*t ages people. LOL!
Vince
To be fair he really never had a really good starting point.
Rugby8
Get the hell Over Yourself!!!!
Seriously!!!
I’m a 63 year old gay man who has lived through All of the CRAP…
He was a kid……it’s a Cake!!!
Go out and find a REAL reason to complain
Or….actually go out and DO something instead of sitting there running your damn mouth!
Mack
I don’t think we should condemning people who said or did stupid things in their teens or even early twenties. As Judge Judy puts it-“Their brains haven’t fully developed yet”. Too often the teens do stupid things because of friends/peers.
I have to say that I grew up in the South, with the exception of two years I lived in Sacramento in Jr High school. When I attended High School, I attended a segregated school. I rode the buses that the blacks had to ride in the back. I had been to schools in California where I attended with Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and every other ethnic groups. I couldn’t figure out why things were so different. I’m fortunate to have had a liberal dad. He taught me that color didn’t mean different. Unfortunately I have cousins who never did learn that and are extremely racists and bigots-but they were taught that in their church.
Inspector 57
Oh, please. DAMN! Do NOT expect to get credibility by quoting Judge Judy, a television reality show star and attention whore.
Whatever else you wrote was rendered totally meaningless after you praised her.
Toofkncool
Their brains haven’t developed yet but their actions have impact, and I think the best way for them to learn this, to help that little brain develop, is to hold them accountable when they do dumb shit.
wiredpup
I love how the woke community gets pissed about one gay slur while demanding we use another one an an “umbrella” term.
F y’all’s hypocrisy.
D_Bro
I agree. I hate that people use “qu**r” like that. To me it triggers memories of being bullied.
A.S.Merrimac
Ditto that. Anyone who used the Q-slur has no right being offended by the F-slur. I despise the Q-slur, it goes right to my gut every time I hear it, yet I’m told over & over by straight people even-that’s just too bad, we’ve reclaimed & repurposed that word-you just have to get over it. I my day I referred to myself as a F*g & lots of my friends used it, by “Q” that was really what homophobic jackasses flung at us. It’s funny & sad how some of us don’t get to be “triggered” once the SJWs decide on their game plan for the rest of us.
Beside he was 17 & 20 when he did those things-he was a punk kid. He could still be a jerk, I don’t know, I don’t know him, but judge him on his actions today.
wiredpup
It’s just nothing more than GLB erasure from history. I didn’t march in Washington for queer rights, I marched for gay rights. Our community has been co-opted by the gender patrol which has nothing to do with our history. Then they try rewriting our history to fit their narrative and further erase those who were there at Stonewall. Not to mention just because I’m gay I constantly get harassed by Red Hats saying I can’t figure out what gender I am.
Heywood Jablowme
Jeez, you guys should really stop reading QUEER-ty!
wiredpup
Hey Heywood Jablowme you should really FOAD.
Inspector 57
wiredpup, did you not notice that Queerty gives you a few minutes to edit your posts?
An an an an an…
F your stupidity.
Heywood Jablowme
@wiredpup: If you’re THAT offended by the Q word, why do you even read something called Queerty in the first place?
“My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near”
Obviously, Robert Frost was a raging homophobe and must be banned from every schoolbook!
A.S.Merrimac
Heywood Jablowme get stuffed. If you can’t discuss dissenting view points civilly, then keep your opinions to yourself.
Heywood Jablowme
@A.S. Merrimac: How am I not being civil? Indeed, you guys are the ones being uncivil since you’re blaming people who have no control over what this site is named. We didn’t choose the name; Queerty did. These complaints should be directed at QUEERTY! Not at other readers.
wiredpup
Inspector 57 Yeah you can FOAD too.
rockland2u
I know its just secondary to the subject, but my God, he is 27 then? , jeez he looks 47, AND that cake, the hate flag not withstanding, looks like it was made by 2 year olds (looks like a soupy mess) OK it just needed to be said.
paul dorian lord fredine
funny, that was the first thing(s) i thought of.
Rugby8
#1 – it did NOT “need to be said”
#2 – Rude!
#3 – shhhhhhhh…..this forum is for grown-u ps
#4 – I HOPE you are not from Rockland County NY …. It would make me very sad to think that such a great place has produced such an a–!
fur_hunter
I am from a very old Virginia family that goes back to 1620. In the Fall of 1963, I was a Freshman in college. Virginia Tech. Which at that time was virtually ALL white. Yes. While I was in college, one of the flag bearers of the corp of cadets carried the Stars and Bars when on parade, played Dixie for every touchdown in football and during Military Weekend had comedy shows in Burrass Hall auditorium where skits were done. Some in blackface. At that time period, it was not considered unacceptable behavior. Those involved should not be stigmatized for things they did then. People grow and change their thinking, just as I have done. Back then, the ‘N’ word rolled off the tongues of people with ease. Those I have known since back then totally understand how discriminating and abusive that is now considered. We have learned. Disdain should only come to those who HAVE NOT learned and corrected their thinking and actions. And look at the bigotry and intolerance that exists towards homosexuality even today with ALL the information that exists out there about the subject. But slowly, people are learning and changing their attitudes and thinking on many fronts. The wheels of progress move very slowly…..but…..they ARE moving.
Aires the Ram
You are correct fur hunter. I’m a mere few years younger than you, was born & raised in conservative, Dutch, Christian Reformed West Michigan. Things were very different then. Certain things that then were just a normal part of our lexicon, are now tabu, because, as you say, times change & people change. I’ve always thought it ridiculous and short-sighted to go back 20+ years into someones past and dredge up something they did or said, and THEN base it against todays society. And then, to attempt to ruin that persons life, career and family over it. It is wrong. Those doing this are attempting to find a racist or bigot or homophobe around every corner, even when 30 years have passed. This stems from their poor education in our public schools where (on purpose), they were not taught history.
A.S.Merrimac
I agree, I’ve never understood this new idea of holding people of the past to today’s standards. What’s done & gone is done & gone-we can learn from it & advance, but it seems pointless to cast opprobrium on the dead. Saints are thin on the ground if we cannot get beyond some “sins” of those in the past we will have no one to look up to or honor.
ElPillo
The flag was poor judgement (17!) and apparently not used for kkk reasons but for being ignorant of all things south and Alabama. The joke… silly. I laughed, but I understand that in today’s environment is better to keep your nose clean
Wicked Dickie
The second worst part of that is that that horribly made cake made him qualified to be an editor at a magazine. #whiteprivilege
ScottOnEarth
YES! That cake was a mess.
D_Bro
Right? It looked like a 10 year old made it in their 5th grade homec class.
Gary Q VV
We all make mistakes throughout our lives. But, when you keep making bad mistakes which encompasses racism, homophobia, and sexism, then, I believe that we’ve discovered a really bad apple – namely: Alex Delany.
barryaksarben
well looking at his picture Im glad he doesnt play for our team and stupid too. what a catch
Heywood Jablowme
J.R.R. Tolkien used the word “f*ggots” in “The Hobbit,” in its original meaning as kindling sticks. Freaked me out a bit at age 12, but sent me to the dictionary!
Aires the Ram
HJ, you got it! Even when you were 12 years old! You saw something, heard an objectionable word, and you did what?? Why, in the interest of LEARNING HISTORY, you went and looked up the maligned word in the DICTIONARY! Good for you! And…..you learned the linguistic history of the word fa*go%t. If more would just look things up BEFORE getting their fingers on the keyboard, or taking to the street, and screaming bloody murder, all would be better off. As has always been said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Ignorance of history, abhorrence to actual learning is, in my view, what causes so very much strife in our society. We see much evidence today, that if we as individuals, or we as a society, don’t learn and understand our history, then we are doomed to repeat it.
pavel20
The thing I keep wondering is why do these things have to be found before the person acknowledges his/her wrong thinking/actions? Why not say upfront to the people in your life, “You know, I used to believe in and do some pretty f-ed up things with regard to my opinions on race, women, lgbtq, etc. and here’s what I’ve learned and am doing to address that.” That way people who know the person can say, “Yeah, I knew about that and he’s explained and shown how he’s different now in x,y,z ways.”
Absent this kind of transparency, we’re just left to think they’re a closet racist, sexist, homophobe that’s upset they got caught.
Aires the Ram
Well pavel20, given your opinion on the matter, why don’t you just make a post on here, and tell us all the gory little details and faux-pas of your past? I mean, it’s NECESSARY to dredge up your past isn’t it, so we can judge you not just for who you are today, who you’ve become, but for who you were decades ago? Comon now, show us your dirty skirts.
ScottOnEarth
I’d like to meet the person who can honestly say they never said or wrote something stupid, offensive or insensitive as a teenager, or young adult, when they were trying to be funny and just too immature to know better. Why must we cancel everyone who dares make a mistake? This is a toxic, overly-sensitive nation.
Aires the Ram
@Scott: Thank you for your eloquence. I could not have said it better myself. Two thumbs up to you!
jasabangunrumah
whoa
alphamaleii
lol,,,ive found that over the years that in one way or another that we all have something in our past that we may not be proud of now ,,,so the only real thing to say here is ,,,,, let he cast the first stone that is without sin !! i think now is the time to fix problems an worry more about the issues that effect us right now an start looking at one another with love an understanding now ,,,,remember none of us are prefect in any way at all now !!
Aires the Ram
Our individual pasts are there for us to learn from, to grow from, to better ourselves from.
Our individual pasts are NOT there for others to dredge up and beat us over the head with.
As someone just said, “he who casts the first stone…..”