SYDNEY, Nov 10 — British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has announced he will no longer sell his children’s book, after coming under fire for what Indigenous critics called “erasure, trivialisation and stereotyping”.
Oliver’s book, Billy and the Epic Escape, tells a fictional account of a group of friends on a summer adventure when an Indigenous girl living in foster care is abducted.
The story sparked outrage among Indigenous authors and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation called for the book to be withdrawn, The Guardian reported yesterday.
The corporation told The Guardian the book was “disrespectful” and contributed to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences”.
Thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were taken from their homes and put into foster care with white families under official policies that persisted into the 1970s—now known as the “Stolen Generations”.
Oliver said he was “devastated” to have caused offence and apologised “wholeheartedly”, The Guardian reported.
“It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue. Together with my publishers we have decided to withdraw the book from sale,” he said.
The Guardian said the book had incorrectly used Indigenous words.
A spokesperson for publisher Penguin Random House said it was “clear” its publishing standards “fell short”, according to the report.
“We must learn from that and take decisive action,” the spokesperson said.
“With that in mind, we have agreed with our author, Jamie Oliver, that we will be withdrawing the book from sale.”
The book was still available for purchase online today.
Oliver launched to fame when his TV show The Naked Chef aired in 1999, and he has since filmed several other shows and published numerous cookbooks. — AFP
