Bon Appétit editor in chief Adam Rapoport resigned on Monday night after several of the magazine's staffers, contributors, and YouTube personalities objected to a photo showing him in brown face, attempting to look Puerto Rican, on Halloween in 2013.
Rapoport, who became editor in chief in 2010 and has been part of Condé Nast since 2000, announced on Instagram that he is stepping down "to reflect on the work that I need to do as a human being and allow Bon Appétit to get to a better place."
In an Instagram story posted earlier in the day, assistant food editor Sohla El-Waylly called for Rapoport's resignation, and said the Halloween photo is "just a symptom of the systemic racism that runs rampant within Condé Nast as a whole." She also alleged that "only white editors" are paid to appear in videos for Bon Appétit's popular YouTube channel, and demanded that "BIPOC" (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) be "given fair titles, fair salaries, and compensation for video appearances."
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Other editors and contributors echoed El-Waylly's sentiments, including Priya Krishna, who called the photo "f--ked up, plain and simple. It erases the work the BIPOC on staff have long been doing, behind the scenes. I plan to do everything in my power to hold the EIC, and systems that hold up actions like this, accountable."
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