Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has come under fire, after he jokingly said he would serve hemlock if he was ever hired to cook for President Trump.
Bourdain, the host of CNN’s No Reservations, made the comments last week to a TMZ reporter after arriving at the Los Angeles airport.
The reporter asked Bourdain: ‘If Trump and Kim Jong-un were going to have a bit of a summit to try and mend relations and they wanted you to cater, what would you serve?’
‘Hemlock,’ Bourdain, 61, responded smiling.
When asked what he would serve President Trump if ever hired to cater for him, Anthony Bourdain said ‘hemlock’
Hemlock is a highly-poisonous plant, which the Ancient Greeks allegedly used to execute the philosopher Socrates.
Fox News reached out to Bourdain after the video surfaced online, and he amended his answer, saying he would actually serve Mr Trump kale.
Bourdain is just the latest CNN host to get in trouble over comments about the president.
In May, the network fired Kathy Griffin for holding up a bloody head made to resemble Trump in an online video. For several years, the comedian has co-hosted the network’s New Year’s Eve coverage with Anderson Cooper.
Hemlock is a poisonous plant that was used in executions in Ancient Greece. Right-wingers on Twitter were not happy with Bourdain’s message
Other Twitter users defended Bourdain, saying he was only joking
When she was dismissed, CNN issued a statement saying: ‘We found what she did disgusting and offensive. We are pleased to see she has apologized and asked that the photos be taken down.’
WHAT IS HEMLOCK?
Above, a picture of a poisonous hemlock plant
Hemlock (Conium Maculatum) is a poisonous plant native to Europe and North Africa.
It is also called poison parsley, or to the Irish – devil’s bread and devil’s porridge.
Ingesting relatively small portions of the flowering plant – about six to eight fresh leaves or an even smaller amount of the root seeds – can result in death.
Hemlock poisoning causes paralysis, and victims die due to lack of oxygen to the heart and brain.
The plant was used in executions in Ancient Greece, notably in the case of the philosopher Socrates.
Socrates was sentenced to death in Athens for impiety and corrupting young men.
So far, CNN has not issued a statement in connection to Bourdain’s comments.
But they have become a heated issue on social media, with many right-wingers calling for CNN to fire Bourdain and for a boycott of his show.
‘I will never watch you or any show you are ever on. You should be ashamed,’ one user wrote
Others came to Bourdain’s defense however, saying he was only making a joke.
‘The far right want Anthony Bourdain fired because he jokingly said he’d serve Trump Hemlock. They are the true snowflakes,’ another user wrote.
Bourdain has not tried to conceal his distaste for the president.
Last year, when Mr Trump was still running for president, TheWrap asked Bourdain if he would ever have a meal with the mogul.
‘Absolutely f****** not,’ Bourdain said. ‘I’ve been a New Yorker most of my life… I would give the same answer that I would have given 10 years ago, when he was just as loathsome.’
Bourdain had a completely different view of the last president. When President Obama was still in office, Bourdain invited him on his show, No Reservations.
The two went to a noodle shop in Hanoi, Vietnam, while the president was on a diplomatic trip in May 2016. The episode aired four months later.
Bourdain is on better terms with Mr Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, who he invited on his show last year for an episode in Hanoi