Chef’s TV show apologizes for using ‘offensive’ nickname for Newfoundlanders

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s TV show has apologized for calling Newfoundlanders by a diminutive nickname many find offensive.

The Twitter account for CNN’s “Parts Unknown” used the term “Newfie” in a nowdeleted tweet promoting this Sunday’s hotly anticipated episode on Newfoundland and Labrador.

The official “Parts Unknown” account shared an article with Newfoundland-related books and local slang, saying “Embrace the Newfies as they are.”

Users were quick to jump on the use of a term that’s considered derogatory, with origins implying Newfoundlanders are unintelligent and lazy.

One man tweeted that “a fair portion of Newfoundlanders find the term ‘Newfie’ offensive” and said it was hard to understand why they used it “in an otherwise excellent article.”

“Ah, you had me until you called me a Newfie. I find it an derogatory term,” another Twitter user said.

User @staggcrystal wrote: “Come on CNN. It is Newfoundlanders.”

Even as other Newfoundlanders said they didn’t find the term offensive, Seamus O’Regan, a St. John’s MP and the federal minister of veterans affairs, tweeted simply: “We don’t like it.”

Late Thursday afternoon, the show acknowledged the criticism on Twitter, offered an apology and appeared to delete the original tweet.

“We regret our use of the word ‘Newfie’ to describe the people of Newfoundland. We apologize for any offence and will stick to Newfoundlanders going forward,” it said.

Paul De Decker, a linguistics professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, says the term “runs a gambit” when discussed in his classes.

Some students see it as a “badge of honour” or an endearing term, while others think it’s inappropriate, especially from people who aren’t from the island.