Dave Andelman apologizes for being a racist jerk - after people start complaining to the station that airs his restaurant show | Page 2

By adamg on Sat, 06/13/2020 - 10:33pm

Some of the BLM stylings of Dave Andelman.

Update: WBZ takes the Phantom Gourmet off the air, at least temporarily.

After people began besieging WBZ, which airs "The Phantom Gourmet," with complaints, Dave Andelman tonight apologized for a making "a mistake" - a series of Facebook posts over the past ten days taking issue with Black Lives Matter protests and vigils, often conflating them with his anger over what he considers the slow pace of the state letting his Mendon drive-in and other businesses re-open.

Benjamin Lipiecki collected examples of Andelman's comments on Black Lives Matters before Andelman made his Facebook account private today. Andelman posted an apology on the Phantom Gourmet Facebook page at 9 p.m., saying he just doesn't know what came over him - for ten days straight:

I want to apologize.

I maintain my own Facebook Page.

I made comments on that page that were inappropriate, hurtful, and wrong regarding the Boston protests.

I support everyone’s right to free speech and free assembly.

I, too, desire racial and social justice. My record of philanthropy and business reflects this.

I made a mistake. I apologize. I feel terrible. We all make mistakes. And I ask for your forgiveness.

Dave Andelman

CEO

Phantom Gourmet, Inc.

Andelman: Founding fathers would have stuck bayonets in their heads

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Comments

Ooh, are we quoting the New Testament here?

By fungwah
Mon, 06/15/2020 - 10:22am

How about Acts 2:44-45 -

44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Or maybe Acts 4:34-35 -

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

Or maybe let's just go with the words of Jesus himself (from Matthew 7:9-12):

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Good!

By Alsac Lorraine
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 3:17pm

Ok so I used to like the show when David Robichaud was the host - but over the quality has decreased and the banter is just eh. Between Dan and Dave they both have that 'You have to earn everything you have! Just like us!" which is a joke - if their dad wasn't famous they'd be managing a an Applebees at best.

Anyone who has read either of Dan or Dave's FB over the years know this is not the first time - not only do they support Trump and claim how taxes kill their job creation (while they still manage to piss away their dad's money) is honestly no big surprise they would take a hateful stance.

Yes, you are free to not take a knee, not to sign a petition, not to protest. To equate taking a knee to being forced to 'bend the knee' in a fictional TV show demonstrates they don't understand, nor do they care to. They could have stayed quiet and just done another stupid episode about Pizza, or another Chinese food ep that puts Kowloon at number one.

Close it down. Close it down, and salt the Earth.

I sincerely regret hurting my

By tape
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 4:54pm

I sincerely regret hurting my bottom line with my careless words and I hope that you can find it in your wallet to forgive me.

https://twitter.com/veryimportant/status/656498544...

Phantom Gourmet is overrated

By Cleary Squared
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 6:22pm

I've always found the Phantom Gourmet show to be a showcase for food porn ("This place in X has the best Y you'll ever have") with all the pretty pictures and video tropes (slo-mo, panning, etc.) but when you actually go there, the Y they recommended is either not available, not what you expected, or they try to upsell you to Z, which doesn't taste as good and costs more money.

The racists always back down

By Lost in Boston
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 5:53pm

The racists always back down when they realize it's gonna cost them money. Andelman can't put this toothpaste back into the tube.

Also the Mendon Drive in

By anon
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 6:28pm

The brothers co own that as well. What a jackass - right when it's opening and looking to see record receipts as the only drive in within the 495 belt. I know of several people that are changing their plans of going there after all this - including me.

Phantom Gourmet TV show put on hiatus by WBZ, though I

By MC Slim JB
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 9:27pm

doubt the move will be permanent: https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/06/14/phantom-gou...

As serious service journalism goes, the show has always been a crass joke. Credit where due: I imagine that whoring that brazenly for so many years is hard work.

Don't be an elitist

By Boston_Bloke
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 10:35pm

I read your blog. I tend to be partial to your point of view. It's not oversized portions that make a a great restaurant. But you know what? That's what some people like. You can't be a man of the people when you stick your nose down at them.

Am I still an elitist if I've spent half my professional career

By MC Slim JB
Mon, 06/15/2020 - 9:49am

reviewing cheap restaurants?

I say it often: I'm in favor of people liking what they like. Folks line up for both the Olive Garden and Nick Varano's Fancy Italian Badda-Bing Factory, and that is as it should be.

At the Boston Phoenix, I spent five years reviewing budget restaurants, and since then have regularly reviewed less-fancy places in my role as a fine-dining critic at The Phoenix, Stuff Magazine, The Improper Bostonian and Boston.com.

I also often say: you can't appreciate what a great food town Boston is if you don't spend most of your time at its family-owned neighborhood places doing traditional cuisines from around the world. I'm fond of the swank joints, too, but my 15 years of food writing (look at the left-hand column of my blog) reflect an equal focus on the high and low here. It's what food super-nerds do.

So it ain't about the kinds of places the Andelmans flog on their show, though they do polish the knobs of a lot of mediocre restaurateurs. More significant is the way they do it -- pay for play, which accounts for why they hype a lot of garbage -- and their long history of obnoxious behavior off-camera. That Dave is the kind of racist simpleton who tars all BLM protestors with the "police-hating looters" brush won't surprise anyone who ever heard the Andelman boys' old radio show on WTKK.

He has always been that kind of bigoted fossil: he just wasn't smart enough to keep hiding it at a time that audiences increasingly want to know what side of history their entertainers are on.

Update: Station pulls show off air

By adamg
Sun, 06/14/2020 - 8:54pm

WBZ to think long and hard about what Andelman kept writing.

It's amazing

By Don't Panic
Mon, 06/15/2020 - 12:25am

How many business owners have been "gas-lit" by President Trumps' claim that Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee to disrespect the flag and this nations active duty military and veterans. It's always been about Police brutality. Always.

In fact

By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 06/15/2020 - 2:21pm

It was active duty military and veterans who suggested kneeling to Kaepernick.

So much for freedom of speech

By anon
Mon, 06/15/2020 - 6:37pm

So much for freedom of speech. I thought it was all about people being able to say what they want to say and having the freedom to say it. Oh right, unless it isn't politically correct.

He can say whatever he wants

By adamg
Mon, 06/15/2020 - 10:52pm

Doesn't mean WBZ, a private concern, has to let him use its platform.

It's not an issue of political correctness. You just

By MC Slim JB
Mon, 06/15/2020 - 11:37pm

need to go back and retake middle-school civics. Learn what freedom of speech actually means, and maybe about boycotts, too. Here's an evergreen lesson in comic form: https://xkcd.com/1357/

Freedom of speech is between

By Matt Frank
Tue, 06/16/2020 - 12:25pm

Freedom of speech is between you and the government.

You may be thinking of the ideal of a free and open society.

Either way I always chuckle when people scream about freedom of speech because they are upset that someone else called them out for the speech. If my calling you out is a violation then so was your initial comment. The logical sequence breaks under that strain.

what about the Emmies?

By deadlyspoons
Tue, 06/16/2020 - 10:28am

Does this mean he has to turn in his Boston/New England Emmy Awards?

Dave Andelman apologizes for being a racist jerk - after people start complaining to the station that airs his restaurant show