World’s 50 Best Bars Winner Returns Award After Sexist Comments Come to Light

October 10, 2019 Admin 0 Comments

Plus, baristas tackle wage transparency through shared spreadsheets, and more news to start your day

World’s 50 Best Bars “Industry Icon” returns award after sexist comments come to light

Renowned bartender Charles Schumann, who last week won the World’s 50 Best Bars “Industry Icon” award, has returned his award following backlash over a series of sexist comments he has made over the years about women in bars, including: “A bar is no place for a woman. The important characters are always men” and “[there’s] no place for a woman behind the bar after 3 p.m.,” industry publications including The Spirits Business and The Shout report.

“I have never doubted that women could be bartenders. Of course women belong in front of and behind the bar,” Schumann wrote on his bar’s Facebook page in a statement after a week of criticism by bartenders and bar owners across the industry, directly contradicting remarks — such as “[Women] can come, but they are not wanted” — made as recently as 2009.

Schumann returned the award on Tuesday, writing on Facebook: “In light of the controversy … I don’t want it anymore.” The World’s 50 Best Bars accepted the return of Schumann’s award and confirmed that there will be no “Industry Icon” winner this year. While the organization claims it was “unaware of these historical comments” made by Schumann, some members of the industry say that doesn’t cut it. “Simply removing an award does not address the topic,” Sekforde Drinks’ Jenny Griffiths told Imbibe. “You guys should be using this as an opportunity to address issues in our industry, but again you are passing the buck and trying to avoid it.”

And in other news…

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• Sam Adams is releasing a beer with an ABV so strong (28 percent) that it’s illegal in more than a dozen states. [Thrillist]
• KFC had added KFW (Kentucky Fried Wings) to its menu. [Brand Eating]
• The filmmakers behind RBG are working on a documentary about Julia Child. “It’s not a movie where people are going to want to go to the theater hungry,” they promised. [Variety]
• American consumers can finally get their hands on mint-chocolate Kit Kats starting in December, marking the brand’s first permanent year-round addition to the U.S. lineup in years. [Insider]
• Of course Italians are catching on to pasta straws to reduce plastic waste. [NY Post]
• Recall alert: Frozen, cooked, diced, or shredded chicken from Tip Top Poultry, sold at multiple restaurants and stores across the U.S., could be contaminated with listeria. [Insider]
• Inside the Atlantic City pizza convention. [NYT]
• The U.K.’s outgoing chief medical officer proposed banning eating on public transport to tackle obesity(???). “Such a ban makes implicit, class-based assumptions about who is eating on public transport and what they are eating,” Eater London’s James Hansen points out. [Guardian]

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]