AMN / WEB DESK
An Indian restaurant here has fired its head chef of Indian-origin Atul Kochhar, following his “anti-Islam tweet”. Michelin-star chef Atul Kochhar of the Rang Mahal restaurant at the JW Marriot Marquis hotel received marching order folowing taking a dig at actress Priyanka Chopra for her tweet over a “Quantico” episode that portrayed Hindu nationalists as terrorists.
Kochhar’s anti-Islam tweet created a furore on social media, with twitterati calling for his sacking.
“Following the recent comments made by Chef Atul Kochhar, we have taken the decision to end our agreement with him for Rang Mahal,” Bill Keffer, General Manager at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, told Arab News.
“With the termination of our agreement, Chef Atul will no longer be associated with the restaurant and the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai,” he said.
The celebrity chef tweeted “it’s sad to see that you have not respected the sentiments of Hindus who have been terrorized by Islam over 2,000 years. Shame on you” following television show Quantico’s Priyanka Chopra portrayed Hindus as terrorists in an episode of the crime drama.
The chef, who runs the Rang Mahal Indian restaurant in the Business Bay hotel, later apologized for his now-deleted tweet, saying that it was a “major error that occurred in the heat of the moment.”
But he later retracted his comments and tweeted: “I fully recognize my inaccuracies that Islam was founded around 1,400 years ago and I sincerely apologize,” he added. “I am not Islamophobic. I deeply regret my comments that have offended many.”
In Kochhar’s now deleted tweet, the chef responded to Chopra’s mea culpa, writing: “It’s sad to see that you have not respected the sentiments of Hindus who have been terrorised by Islam over 2,000 years. Shame on you.”
