NYC's Biggest Ramen Event Lost All Its Chefs After The Fat Jew Was Made Host

The internet, like the realm of fame in general, is a fickle place. One moment you're on top, surfing a wave of praise and popularity, and the next you've been dethroned. Or worse, defamed.

Take, for instance, Josh Duggar, who went from being an icon of Christian family values to an accused child molester and Ashley Madison patron. Or that viral video guy who claimed to have revealed his wife's own pregnancy to her, capturing the hearts of millions of gullible Americans only to be revealed as a cheater with anger-management issues. And, most recently and controversially, there's the case of the Fat Jew, who has one of the most-followed accounts on Instagram (almost 6 million people want to keep up with him) but has been put on blast by a slew of comedians, celebrities, and media outlets lately for his lack of attribution to the sources of his content.

The backlash against Josh Ostrovksy (his real name) quickly ignited earlier this month after comedian Maura Quint posted a Facebook rant about his tendency to screenshot comedic images, Tweets, and other 'net fodder without properly crediting his sources, leading many of his followers to assume that the jokes were his. Soon, think-pieces abounded about his actions, with everyone from The Washington Post to Forbes to The Atlantic chiming in about his accusations of plagiarism. This criticism arose at a time when Ostrovsky was on the brink of some big personal successes, with the launch of his own wine—White Girl Rosé—and a contract with CAA. (He recently lost a project with Comedy Central, but not because of the recent unsavory press.)

It was with all of the above in mind that J. Kenji López-Alt, Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats, announced on Facebook on Monday that he refused to participate in the upcoming NYC Wine & Food Festival Ramen Party after the Fat Jew was unexpectedly added as an event host.

In his post, López-Alt says that he and the staff at Serious Eats worked hard to recruit and gather chefs from many of New York's best ramen restaurants for the event—including Ivan Ramen, Yuji Ramen, Jin, Mu Ramen, and Bar Chuko—only to find that NYCWFF organizers had unexpectedly announced the Fat Jew as host, with his name and likeness prominently represented on the event site.

"The Fat Jew is the antithesis of everything I represent in the media world," López-Alt wrote. "He unapologetically steals other people's work, stripping it of the creators' identities. He is a plagiarist, a thief, a misogynist, and absolutely the wrong choice of co-host for a food event, or really any respectable event. That it comes at a time when there's huge media backlash against him is even more baffling to me."

Other ramen chefs and event organizers were also in the dark about the addition of the Fat Jew. Jamison Blankenship of Bar Chuko told MUNCHIES that he just read yesterday morning that the Fat Jew would be a host, after seeing López-Alt's post.

Since Monday, Jin, Ivan Ramen, Mu Ramen, Sun Ramen, Yuji Ramen, and Bar Chuko have all withdrawn their sponsorship of the event.

Not all of the ramen chefs are pulling out because of their distaste for the internet celebrity; others are just displeased with the way things went in terms of organization, or are withdrawing out of camaraderie.

"Yesterday, I was on the phone with Food & Wine talking about details of the event… Then I kept getting emails all day long about everyone pulling out," Blankenship told me over the phone. "At the end of the day I read the posting on Facebook that Kenji did, explaining the big picture, and that's when we decided, 'We're done.'"

"I mean, come on—it's going to be a party at midnight in Chelsea as part of this festival, I'm pretty sure the Fat Jew could show us a good time," he continued. "My decision had nothing to do with that [controversy]. I follow him on Twitter, I follow him on Instagram. But… I was invited with a prestigious group of chefs, and both Kenji and [Serious Eats founder] Ed Levine have been great to the ramen shop since we first opened and throughout the years. So obviously I have a loyalty to them."

When reached out to via email about the changes to the event, López-Alt did not wish to comment further on the story. Mu Ramen and Ivan Ramen also did not return requests for comment.

As for the more than 200 people who already bought tickets to the October 17 event, their culinary fate is unclear. But there is impetus for the show to go on, somehow, some way; proceeds from the party go to charities Food Bank NYC and No Kid Hungry.

As a known lover of ramen noodles, Ostrovsky is likely feeling the burn of irony right now. Or maybe he's still laughing all the way to the bank, glass of rosé in hand.

Note: An earlier version of this article stated that Ostrovsky's Comedy Central pilot may have been dropped due to the recent controversy. It has been updated to reflect that the project fell through months before, for unrelated reasons.