Bankers Threaten Batali Boycott After Hitler Remarks

At a Time magazine Person of the Year panel this week, celeb chef Mario Batali had a few choice words for the people of Wall Street, and the people of Wall Street are not happy. First, the quote, per Forbes and Media Bistro, both in attendance: "The way the bankers have toppled the way that money is distributed–and taken most of it into their own hands–is as good as Stalin or Hitler, the evil guys that [Time has featured as POY]."

Now Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton tweets that bankers and brokers have called to cancel Del Posto and Babbo reservations en masse, and a tipster tells Eater one large bank has canceled all Batali restaurant reservations while another bank sent out a memo today to all staffers saying they wouldn't reimburse receipts from Babbo and others in the group.

An overreaction on the part of overly sensitive bankers? Maybe, but check out the tweets below. Eater has reached out to Batali, who seems to think he was misquoted, for comment.

Bankers, if it makes you feel any better, Batali doesn't seem to approve of Occupy Wall Street either.

Update: Batali tweets this apology:

· Celebrity Chef Mario Batali Says Bankers As Bad As Hitler, Stalin [Forbes]
· Who Should Be Time Magazine's Person of the Year? [Media Bistro]
· @MarioBatali [Twitter]