Celebrity chef faces trial over #MeToo claim

BOSTON: Celebrity chef Mario Batali went on over trial yesterday over allegations that he forcibly groped and kissed a woman in the only criminal case to result from multiple #MeToo-era claims of sexual harassment and assault that helped fuel his downfall.

Batali appeared in Boston Municipal Court on a 2019 charge of indecent assault and battery of a woman at a bar who came forward to report her experience after other women accused the chef of sexually aggressive behaviour.

The woman, Natali Tene, said Batali assaulted her after posing with her in 2017 for “selfie” photographs at Towne Stove and Spirits, a bar near Boston’s Eataly, the Italian market and restaurant chain he at the time partly owned. Batali’s lawyers have called those claims fabricated.

If convicted, Batali would face up to 2½ years in jail and having to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors said Tene came forward after the food website Eater. com in 2017 detailed allegations by four women who said Batali touched them inappropriately.