'Top Chef' featured Planned Parenthood, and now Padma Lakshmi is getting trolled
Top Chef fans noticed something different about Thursday’s season finale of the cooking competition show.
Padma Lakshmi enlisted her fellow judges — Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Graham Elliot — in supporting Planned Parenthood with lapel pins during the episode that aired on, of all days, International Women’s Day.
Looking sharp, @padmalakshmi, @tomcolicchio, @gailsimmons, @grahamelliot @chefjwaxman.
Great complement to the #TopChef finale. https://t.co/8sHOhhQI9Y pic.twitter.com/2oOmWTOKJS
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) March 9, 2018
Lakshmi noted her longtime support for the organization, and she thanked the show for allowing her to recognize it.
I’ve been supporting @PPFA for a long, long time and want to thank @BravoTopChef for letting me showcase them tonight. #PlannedParenthood #TopChef
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) March 9, 2018
Colicchio, for his part, revealed that he hadn’t realized the episode’s air date when the show was filmed, although he didn’t retract his support.
We shot the finale in June, no idea it would have aired on IWD https://t.co/qod0GLiL7K
— Tom Colicchio (@tomcolicchio) March 9, 2018
But it was Lakshmi’s open support for Planned Parenthood that attracted trolls.
Looking sharp pic.twitter.com/B3pURTWV8L
— Woe versus Rade (@WoeVsRade) March 9, 2018
Celebrating all the murdered future women who will never get the chance to be president, or support murdering babies. Cool
— David, Not a Russian bot, Busa (@daddybusa13) March 9, 2018
Wow, one of my favorite shows once again get political. A company who mainly kills unborn children and sells their body parts is celebrated in the final show of the season. Guess there goes my final viewing of the show sorry to say.
— We R Not F#KD Now (@Bobdabull) March 9, 2018
Disappointed to hear you support the cause of slaughtering hundreds of thousands of precious lives every year.
— Mick States (@stateofclaire) March 9, 2018
Lakshmi handled it calmly, though. Surely she expected that a backlash would follow the episode; she’s regularly involved in feminist causes.
No @petewitte we can’t relax. We need food for survival, we also need privacy to deal with our own bodies as we see fit. @PPFA #PlannedParenthood #TopChef https://t.co/zq69Mn2Pm2
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) March 9, 2018
And she had some supporters too.
I love all of you so, so, so much for wearing the pins in such a public way!! Even though they’re subtle they were immediately noticed in my house. You’re all the best.
— Devin (@da_burke) March 9, 2018
@PadmaLakshmi I’m going to make a donation to @PPFA in @petewitte ‘s name.
— Megan Phelps (@MMPhelps2) March 9, 2018
Lakshmi explained some of her political views in an interview ahead of the 2017 Women’s March, which she attended with her then-6-year-old daughter, Krishna.
“With this presidency, I’m worried [about] a young girl in the Bronx who has endometriosis and does not have access to health insurance that will cover her surgery unless she goes to the emergency room,” the co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America told Rolling Stone.
“She won’t even have access to birth control, which is one of the many ways that you treat reproductive diseases. I’m worried people will not be able to have Planned Parenthood to get pap smears and other health services they need. I am worried that there will be a collection of Supreme Court justices who will take away my rights to choose what happens to my body.”
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