Celebrity chef René Redzepi resigns from Noma after abuse allegations and protest
René Redzepi resigned after online allegations of physical and mental abuse of his staff, and a protest at a recent US$1,500 Noma pop-up
Chef René Redzepi announced he will “step away” from Noma, his lauded Copenhagen restaurant, and has resigned from Mad, the community-building non-profit he founded.
His announcement follows dozens of recently resurfaced abuse allegations as well as a protest on March 11 outside the gate of Noma’s pop-up in Silver Lake in Los Angeles, California.
The news came after five days of developments related to the US$1,500-a-seat pop-up in LA that Redzepi announced last summer, and was sparked after a report in The New York Times detailing past allegations of abuse in the restaurant’s kitchen in Denmark.
The pop-up opened on March 11 afternoon for its first guests, with a small gathering of protesters outside calling for more accountability and higher wages for restaurant workers.
Anonymously submitted allegations of physical and verbal abuse began appearing on Instagram last month when a former Noma staff member, Jason Ignacio White, used his own account to platform and post them.