Alison Roman Apologizes to Marie Kondo for Her 'Tone Deaf' Comments

From House Beautiful

Update: May 11, 2020 8:11 p.m. New York Times columnist and cookbook author Alison Roman apologized at length Monday to Marie Kondo, calling her comments in a widely-criticized interview with the New Consumer "tone deaf."

"I need to formally apologize to Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo," the open letter began. "I used their names disparagingly to try and distinguish myself, which I absolutely do not have an excuse for."

"I need to learn, and respect, the difference between being unfiltered vs. being uneducated and flippant," her message continued. "The burden is not on them (or anyone else) to teach me, and I'm deeply sorry that my learning came at Chrissy and Marie's expense."

Alison acknowledged that she had insulted two non-white women, while she "has and will continue to benefit from white privilege."

"The fact that it didn't occur to me that I had singled out two Asian women is one hundred percent a function of my privilege (being blind to racial insensitivities is a discriminatory luxury)," she wrote. "I know that our culture frequently goes after women, especially women of color, and I am ashamed to have contributed to that."

Alison concluded her apology, which was distributed across her social media channels, by inviting others to write her an email so she can learn to be a better listener. "I promise to read any feedback I receive at hello@alisoneroman.com," she wrote.

You can read Alison's complete open letter here.

Original: May 9, 2020 1:50 p.m. New York Times columnist and cookbook author Alison Roman this weekend attempted to clarify her recent remarks about Netflix phenomenon and organizational expert Marie Kondo, whom she called a sellout in a widely-criticized interview with the New Consumer.

"I want to clarify, I am not coming for anyone who's successful, especially not women," Alison wrote on Twitter amid the backlash. "I was trying to clarify that my business model does not include a product line, which work very well for some, but I don't see working for me."

Alison's original remarks came after she asked if there was "a fine line between consumption and pollution" in a conversation about content creation with Dan Frommer. She championed her own approach, saying "you're making something, but it goes away."

"Like the idea that when Marie Kondo decided to capitalize on her fame and make stuff that you can buy, that is completely antithetical to everything she’s ever taught you," Alison added. "I’m like, damn, b**ch, you f**king just sold out immediately! Someone’s like 'you should make stuff,' and she’s like, 'okay, slap my name on it, I don’t give a s**t!'"

In the original version of the interview, Alison was quoted as saying: "For the low, low price of $19.99, please to buy my cutting board!" Those remarks were subsequently criticized on Twitter for allegedly "mocking" Marie's accent.

"I was def not mocking anyone or anyone’s accent- the 'please to' was from an eastern european cookbook called 'please to the table,' which my friends and I love," Roman responded to one critic on Twitter. "We say 'please to' as an inside joke that clearly does not travel well- I realize how that reads and feel embarrassed!"

The word "to" was temporarily pulled from the article on New Consumer, and an editor's note was added explaining that the word had been removed to avoid misinterpretation. The note states that Alison "used a comedic voice to conjure what sounds like a tacky infomercial pitch" during the interview.

"I want to set the record unequivocally straight: Alison was not mocking an Asian accent when she said that to me," Dan told House Beautiful.

Alison also courted controversy in the same interview by name-checking Chrissy Teigen, whose success she called "crazy to me."

"She had a successful cookbook. And then it was like: Boom, line at Target. Boom, now she has an Instagram page that has over a million followers where it’s just, like, people running a content farm for her," she said: "That horrifies me and it’s not something that I ever want to do. I don’t aspire to that. But like, who’s laughing now? Because she’s making a ton of f**king money."

Both Alison and Chrissy have been on the cover of Cherry Bombe, the magazine that celebrates women and food. The publication said it was "disappointed" to read Alison's comments, calling them "not acceptable."

"Women calling other women sell-outs and b**ches for their hard-earned accomplishments is not acceptable. White women calling women of color sell-outs and b**ches for their hard-earned accomplishments is not acceptable," the magazine wrote on Instagram. "There’s no excuse in 2020 for not knowing better, especially when you’re a gatekeeper or celebrated individual in the food world. Those in a privileged position need to check their privilege and humility on a regular basis. If you’re not using your platform today to lift others, you don’t deserve the platform."

"We hope Alison takes the time to understand why her comments were offensive to so many and issue genuine apologies to both women," it added.

While Alison publicly apologized to Chrissy on Twitter, she has not directly extended the same olive branch to Marie. House Beautiful reached out to Alison Roman for a quote but did not hear back at the time of publishing.

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