Weissman, labeled a control freak by one of his former staff, eventually became so detached from recipe development that he had to be walked through the cooking process by his employees, who he came to trust with finding recipes. I was told that Weissman gave sourcing instruction to his staff when they were first charged with coming up with a recipe: just look up whatever recipe, and change a few ingredients, so people aren’t saying we’re copying it.
I spoke with nine sources who engaged with Weissman professionally, and six of those sources were his former employees. My sources described a hostile work environment in which he exploited his staff, engaged in abusive behavior, and regularly made sex noises, sexual comments, and sexually harassed his executive assistant. I reached out to Weissman’s team, and I did not receive any response prior to the publication of this article.
Posted by aoi4eg
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>One of Weissman’s employees had recently flirted with a woman they met at a party. A rumor spread that the employee had been talking to a trans woman. Weissman heard the rumor, and while he was with DiGiovanni, he harassed the employee and repeatedly called on him to tell DiGiovanni about how he flirted with a trans woman.
>Weissman thought it was funny that his employee would want to date a trans woman, and he sought to belittle the employee for what he perceived as foolish behavior. The employee was disturbed by the idea that Weissman would engage in this transphobic line of harassment in an effort to impress someone he previously framed as his mortal enemy. Weissman harassed the employee twice, both times the employee appeared near him and DiGiovanni.
>The employee eventually confronted Weissman about his transphobia, and they told me that Weissman yelled at them for describing his behavior as transphobic. Weissman defended himself by claiming he knew more about social issues than the employee. Whether or not the woman with whom the employee flirted was actually a trans woman, the behavior described is plainly transphobic, and the behavior further contributed to the hostile work environment that Weissman created.
why does everyone i like turn out to be trash. I swear to God if anything comes out about Andy Cooks I’m done
This is absolutely crazy. Completely unhinged behavior.
Stunned to see this name pop up, but not necessarily shocked? I was subscribed to him years ago, but his videos kinda started rubbing me the wrong way at some point and I unsubbed after some months. Idk what exactly it was that put me off; I think it was a mix of the snooty attitude that increased drastically in the “But Better” series and how I felt the “But Cheaper” series was unfeasible for someone with few options and/or who was legitimately strapped for cash and his attitude around that. His fan base wasn’t the best either at that time.
But yeah, when I saw how (I guess) “aggressive” his attitude had gotten and saw the clout go to his head in real time, I felt like it would only be a matter of time before it blew up into real trouble. If anything, I’m more surprised that it took this long.
While disappointing, this ain’t surprising.
Has this been substantiated with something formal yet?
I understand we must take accusations seriously, and we must also remember innocent until proven guilty too. Thats a lot of corroborated stories already…
Shit is wild, so I hope the truth comes to light and something is actually done about the results. Too much getting away with things happening these days.
Weissman sounds like a POS but the closure of properly run blogs and print outlets is felt here. Rosenthal really needed an editor. What a messy slog.
That Nick Giovanni stuff is so catty, I physically cringed when I read about him blocking Nick and being confronted. It’s awful how he was treating his staff, why can’t people just be normal
Wow. What a piece of shit. Mind you, I found his recipes stupidly complicated and never had the desire to make anything he’s posted!
I personally love Brian Lagerstrom. No gimmicks, good food and straight forward recipes.
i’m quite not shocked tbh. you never REALLY know who you’re watching when it’s just yt videos. that behavior is ABHORRENT. i hope the employee sues tbh
I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!
Sorry, I had to say it. He got SO weird in recent years and was so eager to joke about “his employees” and how he could fire them anytime if they fucked up. I unsubbed about two years ago. Seems like my instincts were true. Fuck (most of) these YouTubers fr.
ETA: he’s not the only YouTuber with a toxic working environment I’ve heard (looking at you….>!smosh!<)
He always seems so arrogant on camera, I am honestly not surprised
I’ve watched like 3 of his videos but what I remember most was him freaking out about stains on his studio countertop. Like even on camera even in the parts that made it into the final edit. And it wasn’t cute or funny it was giving control freak. These stories go way beyond that but I have no trouble believing it from someone who takes themselves this seriously and who ends cooking videos with “I love you so much”(?? Maybe this is common tho idk)
I watched his older stuff very casually while I was sick last summer -the newer stuff didn’t land for me so I just skipped it, maybe that’s where the issues are?- still I just never expected to hear his name again let alone in something like this.
Damnit, why is everyone a creep?
Crap. I have one of his early cookbooks.
Maybe a little shocked, but I haven’t watched his content for years. As soon as he moved to the new kitchen, had a large production staff, the content got unbearable (like Babbish). Disappointing to hear about the harassment stuff, would have assumed he was better than that.
This is -500% surprising. We have always joked he is insufferable
Years ago someone on the internet said (so it must be true!) that as soon as the creator buys the new fancy house the content changes and it’s usually not better. Seems like that’s when the scandals come out too.
He can be pretty juvenile in his videos, but this is a dealbreaker for me.
Social media bro chef dudes all kinda give me this same creepy vibe.
i’ve ALWAYS got a terrible uneasiness when i watched his video, i had to click off right away. I knew there was something dark and sinister with this guy. I’m glad i trusted my observations.
he bullied one of my best friends in hs.. we’ve been waiting for this
I remember when this little dweeb was all the rage in paleo circles, at least on TX. It’s easy to platform a rich white kid with an “inspiring” story (he was bullied, lost a bunch of weight with the paleo diet and learned some knife skills, now his classmates were asking him nutrition advice, etc).