13th June 2018
Michelin-starred chef Atul Kocchar has been fired tweet stating that Muslims have “terrorised” Hindus for thousands of years.
The JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai dropped the chef after he posted the comments, aimed at Indian actress Priyanka Chopra.
Chopracame under fire for an episode of her US TV show Quantico, featuring a plot about Hindu nationalists.
The chef has apologised for the tweet.
On Sunday Kocchar tweeted: “It’s sad to see that you [Chopra] have not respected the sentiments of Hindus who have been terrorized by Islam over 2000 years. Shame on You.”
He has since deleted the message, apologised and has pinned an image to his Twitter feed expressing his regret.
But his Dubai restaurant fired the chef on Wednesday, after customer threats online to boycott the establishment.
A Marriott spokesperson said: “We pride ourselves on creating a culture of diversity and inclusion for our guests and associates across the hotel and our restaurants.”
Kocchar became the second Indian to earn a Michelin star in 2007 for his Benares restaurant in London.
His tweet is part of a wave of online criticism directed at Priyanka Chopra, an Indian-born, US-based actress.
Chopra plays the lead character Alex Parrish in spy thriller Quantico, which broadcast an episode on 1st June showing the character foiling a terror attack in New York.
Though the fictitious attack was ostensibly planned by Pakistanis ahead of a summit about Kashmir, the disputed territory claimed by India and Pakistan, Ms Chopra’s character discovers it is in fact Hindu nationalists trying to frame the Pakistanis.
The episode sparked an online fur, with critics describing Priyanka as “an insult to India” and the episode an attack on Hindus.
Ms Chopra has since apologised, declaring herself “a proud Indian”.