LONDON (AP) – A children's book written by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been pulled from sale after being criticized for being offensive to Indigenous Australians.
The Guardian reported on Saturday that the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation said Billy's Epic Escape, published earlier this year, used a series of metaphors and stereotypes about Indigenous Australians, including their relationship to the natural world. It was reported that he accused the government of spiritual world.
The organization criticized one of the fantasy novel's subplots – the story of an Indigenous girl living in foster care – for contributing to the “erasure, trivialization and stereotyping of Indigenous peoples and experiences.” did.
Oliver, 49, said in a statement that he was “devastated” by the offense he had caused and apologized “sincerely.”
“I never intended to misconstrue this very painful issue,” he said. “In collaboration with the publisher, we have decided to discontinue sales of this book.”
Indigenous activists were particularly surprised that neither Oliver nor his publisher, Penguin Random House, consulted the novel before it was published.
“It is clear that our publishing standards were not met in this case and we must learn from this and take decisive action,” the publisher said. “With that in mind, we have come to an agreement with author Jamie Oliver to discontinue sales of this book.”
Oliver, who is in Australia to promote his latest recipe book, is one of a long list of celebrities to have their names attached to children's books, a trend he says is forcing children's books out of the market. It has been criticized by many children's book authors.
Oliver published his first children's book, Billy and the Giant Adventures, last year, and in a social media post he said that as someone with dyslexia, he had “chosen the fonts carefully to make the text as clear as possible”. said. You may find it difficult to read.
Mr Oliver, who rose to fame in 1999 with his book and TV show The Naked Chef, has campaigned on children's food and nutrition for many years, and in 2005 criticized the nutritional content of some school meals. caused an uproar. England
