Chef Joy responds after Below Deck Med’s Bunny claims she was ‘framed’ as a ‘horrible person’
Joy shared that she felt they were trying to 'make her look like a fool'
The newest batch of Below Deck Mediterranean episodes introduced us to primary charter guest Bunny, and it’s safe to say that they gave Chef Joy a bit of a challenge.
Joy shared with producers: “There’s a bunch of people with different preferences, and they all think they are the principal. I’m doing four-course menus, and the list is going on and on and on and on. I’m realizing I’m digging myself into a deep hole.”
She was shocked by their reactions to their first meal, which featured sea bass ceviche and watermelon avocado ponzu with crispy rice. Guest Jequoya shared: “I gave it a try. I’m sorry, I just don’t like it. We’re just not big fans of it. Any fish I eat is fried.” Primary guest Bunny, added: “I just want my crispy rice to be less crispy.”
Chef Joy was less than happy with the feedback, complaining: “I’m in the middle of preparing the second course and they make me look like a fool, like I don’t know my job. I could explode soon. This feels like this is starting to go off the rails. I don’t know between her and me who’s going to cry first.”
Bunny then spoke out following the Below Deck Mediterranean airing, sharing on Instagram that she felt like she wasn’t even able to share preferences about her food and not liking it. She felt like the reaction towards her was, “you are demanding, using words like ‘hate’ to describe you in this political environment. Because you say you’re hungry hours before dinner.
“I want other Black people to see this, I want other queer people to see this, I want other trans people to see this. You get to not like things. You get to have a standard… Nobody gets to criminalise you for not liking something.”
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Bunny shared that even when she communicated she didn’t like something with “kindness and politeness” she was told that she “was wrong.”
She also wrote more about the episode and her feelings around it in the caption, saying that the episode was “so real” as it showed “what itās like to be a Black person, to be a queer person, a nonbinary person, a woman, a femme, a person from a working class background who comes into a space and is expected to accept whatever is given and just ‘be grateful that we allow you to be here.'”
She claimed: “Hours before we even stepped on charter, before I even spoke a hello or shared a smile with the crew they were already calling me ‘difficult,’ and ‘demanding’ for having dietary restrictions. For having an auto immune condition that makes it difficult for my body to digest so many different kinds of foods.
“Within minutes of people watching two crew members cry on the episode, there were people in the comments using racial slurs to describe me. And my infraction? Existing as a Black person on a yacht and kindly asking that my guests receive food they can eat so that they donāt go to bed hungry.
Because I refused to play the role of Oliver Twist, I was framed by these women as being some sort of horrible person. And thatās not okay.”
Chef Joy responded in the comments underneath Bunny’s video, commenting: “We were tired. At the end we had a great charter. And we were happy u came on board, please come back bunny. Not bad feeling we do love you.”
Bunny replied: “Chef Joy, if you really feel that way, then I’m asking you one thing: tell your followers to stop using racial slurs toward me and my guests in your name.
“Tell them that you were tired, mistakes were made, and we understood that. The mistakes that were made weren’t a problem for us. We were kind, we were understanding, and we never made it bigger than it needed to be.
“But you all took your frustration and your fatigue out on us. I can understand that. It’s a show. It’s entertainment. People get emotional, things happen. But I’m not talking about what happened on the show. I’m talking about what’s happening now.”
Cooper also commented under the video, adding: “For the record, I had a really nice time with all of yallā¤ļø we struggled as a crew on the first day but we turn it around and have a great charter! Hope youāre well Bunny.”
Below Deck Med is available to stream on Hayu now.Ā
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