- This video was sponsored by Skillshare.
One cannot understand
the collapse of Bon Appétit
without first understanding
live action role play.
Now live action role play, or
LARPing is essentially acting.
It's the embodiment and
performance of some assigned role.
The role could involve varying
levels of improvisation,
maybe it's even just playing
some version of yourself.
But there is a reason in
my mind that both role play
and acting exists as terms
and are used distinctly.
Today we are gonna talk
about that distinction.
And we are gonna talk about
it, using the recent drama
around YouTube darling, Bon Appétit.
- I guess, what did you think
you were gonna be walking into
when you took a job in the Test Kitchen,
and were you prepared for all this?
- Definitely not this.
(band music)
- Sohla.
(band music)
- You just called me Sohla.
- Priya, sorry.
- It's no secret that
for several years now,
mass media corporations have kind of
been taking over YouTube.
While we still get the odd viral sensation
from a random no-name channel-
- ♪ Cable television. ♪
- Far more common nowadays are hit videos
to the tune of John
Oliver's weekly take down
or celebrity does funny noise,
make James Corden go LOL.
Or even more frequently, we get something
from the Condé Nast family of channels.
Are you unfamiliar with the
Condé Nast family of channels?
Almost certainly not.
From GQ to Wired to
Vanity Fair, Epicurious
And oh, hey look
It's Bon Appétit.
This media conglomerate
has been slowly dominating the platform.
And while we can pin that
on a variety of factors,
I think there is a unifying idea here,
that's really aided a
lot of their success.
In a word, personability.
- What am I doing with my life?
- Like here's an Epicurious
video from early in the channel.
- There are many ways
to crimp your pie crust
and add a decorative flair to your edges.
The first is the pinch method.
- And here's an Epicurious video now.
- My girlfriend wanted to go out
to more Italian restaurants.
They were charging us $23
for a Fettuccine Alfredo
and I was like, absolutely not.
I'll go and make my
own Fettuccine at home.
And now I have a happy relationship.
(chuckling)
- Here's an early Bon Appétit video.
- Kill as possible.
(soft music)
So there you have it, diced avocado.
- Here's a Bon Appétit video now.
- You want Claire to be able to hold that-
- You are not listening-
- Over your head for donut
part four, donut part five-
- But we are doing the right thing.
- Still just talking about
temporary goddamn chocolate.
This ends today.
- (laughing)
- Okay?
- The content hasn't
necessarily changed that much.
Both of these channels were and still are
focused mainly around discussing
topics relating to food.
Usually offering some kind of
advice to aspiring home chefs.
Except that's not really true.
The framing of these topics has changed
so drastically at this point,
that in many ways, we
may as well be watching
completely different channels
for completely different reasons.
You don't go to an Epicurious
video to get spaghetti tips.
You go to watch Steven
Frank and Julie chit chat
while making spaghetti.
You don't go to Bon Appétit for recipes,
you go to see what bullshit
Brad is up to this time,
or watch Claire in pain.
Oh, Claire spent a week figuring out
how to make jelly beans.
Guess I'll check that out.
These are no longer very
apparent corporate attempts
to dip their toes into the
muddy waters of YouTube.
But now totally integrated
into that down to earth style,
the platform used to be known for.
We've got videos on this channel
with almost two million views
that are just the Bon Appétit crew
talking about food they dislike.
And in the end, we've got
Pally in joke references,
running gags, team
collaborations, the whole thing.
For Bon Appétit, maybe the peak of this
was the Thanksgiving series,
which I feel no shame in admitting,
I've watched more times
than pretty much any film.
In that case, after
spending time establishing
the personalities and quirks
of each Bon Appétit member,
we had all of the best
known faces of the show,
working together to create the
ultimate Thanksgiving meal.
(upbeat music)
- Making out.
(chuckles)
- We don't have time to screw around.
- What will we do?
- I will not be the last
thing on that table.
(upbeat music)
- Erotic Andy and wildcard Brad,
were forced to work
together on cranberry sauce.
We had wine moms, Molly and
Carla on the mashed potatoes,
affable dads, Chris and Rick on stuffing.
And then the whole gang came together
for one big Thanksgiving shebang.
If this reminds you less of a recipe video
and more like a sitcom,
it's because it is.
Bon Appétit became essentially
the friends of food YouTube.
And it became apparent very quickly
that that's what the
audience was responding to.
Look at the evolution of the presentation
in Claire's gourmet make series.
The slow integration of more
and more sides and cameos
from both the rest of the
cast and the camera crew.
- Butter part.
- Artisanal jellybeans in
the most incredible flavor
ever known to man.
- Yeah.
- Then people would be
like, that's incredible-
- I feel like the butter
popcorn flavor is good at best.
- (laughing)
- So in this odd way, we
had a commercial enterprise,
trying to replicate the feeling
of just some pals
goofing around with food,
and then looping back
around to turning that
into a highly manicured
sitcom style product.
And a distance, that's
kind of genius, right?
On its own, the shallow
down to earth Veneer,
wouldn't survive the
scrutiny of the internet.
If this channel really was pretending
to just be a few friends
hanging out in a kitchen
with some cameras, we'd probably end up
with a weird uncanny valley effect,
where it became increasingly obvious
that things were just a bit too off.
So instead, we have a
clinical sitcom formats,
overlaying that personable
unprofessional presentation,
like a filter over an image to
hide the parts that seem off.
Directly or indirectly,
this is what the show
is reassuring us about, when for instance,
it calls attention to the
cast flubbing line readings
and needing to do enough a take.
They are making sure
we know that they know
that we know what they are doing.
It is a manicured performance.
But it's not acting, it's role play.
Role play where in our
own way, taking part in.
A lie agreed upon.
(soft music)
So in June 8th, 2020, this photo surfaced,
of Bon Appétit editor
in chief, Adam Rapoport
at a Halloween parties,
some number of years ago.
If it isn't already obvious
what the issue here is,
here is an image of
Adam Rapoport normally.
Yeah.
Given that on top of everything else,
this was at the height
of Black Lives Matter,
protesting against ongoing
racial discrimination by police
in the criminal justice system,
a protest Condé Nast and
Bon Appétit had themselves
been showing support for.
People weren't so into the
idea of a man in power,
doing essentially hood black face.
Nor the comments underneath the post
from other members of staff
talking about how scary he was.
And this would be one thing
without what quickly followed.
An Instagram expose written by
Bon Appétit cast member, Sohla El-Waylly.
In a series of posts,
Sohla discuss the reality
that instances like this
did not exist in a vacuum
or point to some easy answer
of Adam Rapoport's unique
phrases disposition.
A narrative some outlets
were already quick to paint.
This was one symptom of a systemic issue
within Condé Nast as a whole.
A general indifference towards the issues
of certain members of staff.
Sohla revealed that in
fact, nonwhite editors,
often weren't even being paid
for their appearances in videos.
Something later echoed
by a fellow staff member, Christina Che.
Despite decades of experience in the field
that Sohla remained an
a subordinate position
to less qualified white editors.
Still only getting paid
a flat 50K annual salary,
an amount that may seem like a
fair wage in a lot of the U.S
but not so much when Bon
Appétit runs out of literally
the most costly place to
live in the entire country.
It quickly became clear that
the fronting of cast members,
like Sohla or Indian-American
personality, Priya Krishna,
were token efforts by Condé Nast.
Pretty sloppy ones at that,
given as Priya pointed out
in her own resignation post,
how often minority cast
members were pigeonholed
as monolithic experts for
their own communities.
Priya would even allude to the fact that,
like Condé Nast, colleagues
in the Test Kitchen
would make outward public
gestures of support,
while remaining privately complicit.
And in some ways even
contributing to these injustices.
In amongst all these,
further stories emerged,
like that Puerto Rican
writer, Illyanna Maisonet
being snubbed on articles
covering regional cuisine,
with the excuse that this
wouldn't spark the interest
of mainstream audiences.
Ryan Walker-Hartshorn,
Rapoport's personal assistant
of over two years, and the
only black woman on his staff,
revealed that she'd
been continually snubbed
on pay increases from
her starting 35K salary.
With over a dozen fervor similar accounts,
disclosed by past and present people
of color contributes to the Bon Appétit,
and a smaller drama involving
one of the team members,
posting Confederate flag cake projects.
It was a law.
Resignations would soon follow.
First of Adam Rapoport's,
then of multiple Bon Appétit members,
who'd voice these issues.
Now, part of why I made this video
is just because I think this story
is meaningful enough on its own.
This was a burgeoning
giants of online video,
and it just completely shit the bed
because it couldn't stop being racist.
To date, after over a year
of near daily uploads,
barely even interrupted
during the recent pandemic,
it's been over two months since
the last Bon Appétit video,
as well as a month, since
the last Epicurious video.
Now, obviously there's a good chance
after letting things sit for a bit,
there'll be some corporate restructuring,
some recasting and even
some attempt to revitalize
these projects or more
likely, a complete rebrand
with some minor format changes.
As we're all things, time will pass
and people will forget this ever happened.
And that makes documenting these events
in themselves valuable exercises.
But what I think Sohla
and Priya pointed out
in their resignations, is
really worth honing in on here.
This was not a situation
that can be boiled down
to a racist editor,
or as Bon Appétit's own
press release put it,
failing to learn from mistakes.
I mean, certainly I'm sure Adam Rapoport
regrets dressing up in gangster Brown face
at Halloween party.
I would be pretty surprised
if he ever decided
that would be a cool thing to do again.
But wouldn't that just be
the most unconstructive way
this whole drama was resolved?
A man who does racist shit
is forced to apologize
for racist shit.
Maybe the site will
sometimes have more stories
from people of color.
Maybe those people of color
will sometimes be paid
a fair wage and that's
the end of the story.
There's an obvious elephant in
the room for anyone who tries
to suggest this begins and
ends with some social faux par,
some corporate oversights and
a few complicit staff members.
This was a culture that was
allowed to perpetuate itself
through monetary interest.
In all likelihood, there
were people in power
with deep seated, bigoted beliefs.
Those people may have
influenced these decisions
to suppress the work and perspectives
of people of color on staff.
But in general, even if
there are still many people
knowingly or unknowingly
harboring racist attitudes,
most people are at least aware of racism.
Bon Appétit didn't mistreat and underpay
their people of color on
staff, unaware of these issues.
They did it because
those issues would always
be secondary to performance.
Because as a mass media conglomerate,
their priority is and will
always be maximizing profits
at the lowest cost.
Because in the end, the best solution
for a corporation is corporate LARPing.
Like me telling you that
Bon Appétit was in reality,
always a highly manufactured
commercial product
and not just friends goofing around,
me saying that the
priority of a conglomerate
like Condé Nast, is financial gain
and not furthering social justice,
is almost obnoxiously obvious.
I might as well be
telling you these people
aren't actually knights!
It's a lie agreed upon.
But an interesting thing
happens when that lie
has been internalized well enough.
It results in us ignoring
the obvious truths
in favor of a convenient narrative.
I doubt most colleagues
who didn't speak up
to the racial injustice faced by staff,
did so due to their own racial prejudice.
They as people with their
own families and loved ones
to care for, took part in a system
to protect their own monetary interests.
In the case of team members
who have since spoken out
on this subject, like
Claire, Molly, and Carla,
it's unlikely they were even
aware of this way disparity,
given the institutional stigma
against employees sharing those details.
And if they did know, how much power
would they have realistically
had to change that?
I'm sure when many people
saw the litany of projects,
meaningfully centered around
people of color shot down,
they didn't deny.
Not because that validated
their racist beliefs,
but because they thought it better
not to fight conventional wisdom,
that these minority
stories are less appealing
to the general public.
It is, after all that
same conventional wisdom,
that meant minority
representation in mainstream media
in general, was seen as pretty
much totally non-viable.
Until it suddenly was.
These concerns and dynamics,
did not create this prejudice.
But they undoubtedly empowered it.
We could be talking
about the Me Too movement
and the complicity to the abuse of women
in the film industry.
Going back to some earlier videos of mine,
we could be talking about
the mistreatment of workers
and animation and VFX.
We've cultures of unpaid
work and crunch time.
We can say overworking staff is bad.
Rape culture is bad.
Discriminatory practices are bad.
But none of that is relevance
when your paycheck is on the line.
And you are not the one in charge.
It's undeniable that
for that fleeting period
of a year or so, the Bon Appétit crew
became kind of a family to
a lot of regular viewers.
That in itself is, not especially healthy.
It was a parasocial relationship.
A one sided connection reinforced
between content creators
and audience members.
And it's clear Condé Nast
was playing into that
with the presentation they
cultivated for the show.
One need only flipped through
the reply sections of videos,
to see viewers fantasizing
about what the cost might do
with each other in their spare time.
Even imagining romantic
relationships between them.
And as Priya herself pointed out, adults,
Bon Appétit fanfiction,
was increasingly becoming
an unsettlingly unavoidable phenomenon.
- Is really into fanfiction.
Did you know that there's fanfiction?
Like short stories.
- What's fanfiction?
- Rated R for language, or
what are we talking about here?
- No.
- Given COVID was forcing
most of these shows
into the personal homes of cast members
among their friends and family,
it's almost a relief to
see everything put on hold.
Considering how far that unhealthy level
of intimacy with
strangers, could have gone.
What I do hope, is that
at least for some people,
that feeling of empathy, reaches
not just the sitcom roles
assigned to the people at Bon Appétit,
but those people themselves.
This does not end with
the big bad Adam Rapoport
being forced into the shadows.
Just as it doesn't end
with Bon Appétit retreating
into the night, changing
its name to foodies
or dish scrubs or whatever else,
and reintroducing itself with a new cast
of diverse likable characters.
Nor does end with the
people we all know and love,
starting their own independent channels,
free from the grasp of corporate interest.
Condé Nast commands a
powerful media empire.
They have the means to
recreate themselves,
and the production
resources to back it up.
And if it isn't them,
it'll just be someone else.
A conglomerate more
successful by virtue of being
even more unscrupulous with its business.
For more on that, just look
at Anne Reardon's work,
exposing the myriad viral
fake cooking channels
that have been flooding YouTube
in a way more honest channels
aren't able to match up to.
- Here's our views per month
from the top five bacon YouTube
is for the last two years,
and here's content for our views.
The whole how to area is just
being overtaken by these ones.
Why genuine YouTubers
aren't doing it anymore?
Because they actually
can't justify the cost.
- This site is also not
exactly a nonpartisan figure
in these conversations.
Adam Rapoport, Bon Appétit and Condé Nast
are all symptoms of a system.
There's the sided aesthetics,
Trump meaningful change
and have very little pushback
against those decisions.
It's not exactly hard to
notice that with the advent
of so called call out culture,
issues like this, that
might have once been left
to organize Workers'
Unions, are now dependent
on social media outing campaigns.
Whether or not coworkers speak up,
whether or not
their social media call
out campaign succeeds,
an unjust system can't be fixed
by just hoping complaints reach
a sympathetic ear at the tall.
The claps of Bon Appétit was
not an error or malfunction.
It was an inevitability in a system
that will always push
workers as far as it can,
before the whole thing falls apart.
And in our own way, we
are already aware of this.
It's an obvious truth to the system,
and one most people
who've worked at any level
of any industry for a
decent length of time,
have experienced.
Especially those working from the position
of a marginalized group.
But I guess in its own way,
that's part of the performance.
Ignoring those truths,
remaining comfortable
and complicit in the fantasy.
Every now and again, role play can be fun.
But every so often it's worth
remembering the importance,
of a safe word.
And the safe word is commun-
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(trumpet playing)
- Well
