Dubai hotel terminates Indian chef over 'anti-Islam' tweet

DUBAI - Social media was left feeling disheartened and furious when Indian born British based chef, Atul Kocchar, disregarded the sentiments of many by posting an anti-Islam comment on Twitter.

His comment was a reply to Priyanka Chopra's tweet and soon afterwards he was condemned for slurs of racism, bigotry and Islamophobia.

The Michelin-starred chef was running the award-winning Rang Mahal Indian restaurant at Dubai’s JW Marriott Marquis Hotel.

“Following the recent comments made by Chef Atul Kochhar, we have taken the decision to end our agreement with him for Rang Mahal. With the termination of our agreement, Chef Atul will no longer be associated with the restaurant,” Bill Keffer, general manager of JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai said in a statement to Gulf News.

“At the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai we pride ourselves on creating a culture of diversity and inclusion for our guests and associates across the hotel and our restaurants. We also remain committed to delivering the traditional culinary experience and high service standards that Rang Mahal is renowned for.” he added.

The post had earlier gone viral and demands to sack the chef were flowing in. People threatened to no longer visit the hotel if Atul remained as a part of the business.



Atul has since then issued two apologies but his efforts are now in vain

https://twitter.com/atulkochhar/status/1006099306590474240

https://twitter.com/atulkochhar/status/1006587584179564544

This is the perfect example of "you cannot take your words back". Forgiveness clearly does not come easy to the ones who are genuinely hurt by the carelessness of another. And it definitely won't come easy when you manage to offend an entire religion and more.

https://twitter.com/Virtuallytangib/status/1006774719805296641

People are convinced Atul's apology comes due to his career being sabotaged

https://twitter.com/EngDawahLeague2/status/1006660703707717632

https://twitter.com/parzaneh/status/1006674209840533505

https://twitter.com/gops333/status/1006731242283282432

https://twitter.com/WasimAh30/status/1006685773926682625

https://twitter.com/MariamKSHakim/status/1006785961500520448

Someone pointed out the turning tables

https://twitter.com/fehmeenavoice/status/1006711512109539328

Someone adopted a lighter approach

https://twitter.com/CASabirAzmat/status/1006680867115282436

We guess we cannot change someone's mindset, each to their own but Atul clearly wouldn't be hating publicly again.