Flavortown, Ohio? Thousands want to rename Columbus

Guy Fieri, the flamboyant Food Network host, might be getting closer to making a reality out of the oft-repeated claim that he’s the “mayor of Flavortown.”

A petition gathering thousands of signatures is seeking to put the imaginary city on the map, by renaming Columbus, Ohio, in his honor. Statues and other iconography around the country of Christopher Columbus — including one in the state capital that bears his name — have been targeted amid a nationwide antiracist protest movement.

“Columbus is an amazing city, but one whose name is tarnished by the very name itself,” the petition posted by Tyler Woodbridge on Change.org reads. “Its namesake, Christopher Columbus, is in The Bad Place because of all his raping, slave trading, and genocide. That’s not exactly a proud legacy.”

He nominated Fieri to replace the controversial historical figure, he wrote, because the celebrity chef — who has been praised widely for his work and donations to restaurant workers laid off during the COVID-19 crisis — was born there. Also, he wrote, “it honors Central Ohio’s proud heritage as a culinary crossroads and one of the nation’s largest test markets for the food industry.”

More than 28,000 people had signed on as of Monday morning, citing both affection for the spiky-haired TV personality and a rejection of the explorer whose name has become synonymous with colonization and violence toward indigenous people. In recent years, a handful of states have renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Bud Light boosted the effort, tweeting,“Bud Light Seltzer for all of Flavortown if this happens.”