Celebrity chef and disgraced talk show host Mario Batali is being charged in relation to accusations of sexually misconduct against him. Per NBC Boston, Batali—who has been accused of inappropriate behavior by a number of women, leading him to be fired from his talk series The Chew, and surrendering his stakes in his various restaurants—is expected to be arraigned on charges of indecent assault and battery in Massachusetts on Friday.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office confirmed that Batali is being charged in relation to an offense that took place in Boston’s Back Bay on March 31, 2017—presumably a previously reported incident in which he offered a selfie to a woman in one of his restaurants, then allegedly proceeded to kiss and grope her. Batali’s name was one of the first to be listed during the early days of the #MeToo movement, and his tone-deaf attempt at “apologizing”—which, yes, included a cinnamon roll recipe—was an early hallmark of the depressingly common “Men give astonishingly shitty responses to being accused of serial harassment or assault” genre of literature that’s emerged over the last two years.