Did Anthony Bourdain And Guy Fieri Finally Squash Their Beef?


If I were to make a Mt. Rushmore strictly out of the best beefs of all time, here are the feuds I’d put on it: Biggie vs. 2Pac, Jay-Z vs. Nas, Drake vs. Meek Mill, and Anthony Bourdain vs. Guy Fieri. Yeah, the two culinary food nerds. The drama that went down between Bourdain and the host of Triple D is one of the my favorite beefs of all time. It’s elitist vs populist. Blue vs. red. Per Se vs. Applebees. Dom Perignon vs. Bud Light. It’s the defining beef of our time.

Bourdain has publicly shit all over Guy Fieri for years, most famously last summer when he told this to Atlanta Magazine:

So I sort of feel in a heartfelt way for Guy [Fieri]. I wonder about him. He’s 52 years old and still rolling around in the flame outfit… What does he do? How does Guy Fieri de-douche?”

Ouch.

In the same interview, he more or less told Man Vs. Food host Adam Richman to fuck himself and join ISIS.

“Why did we watch [Man vs. Food]? Admit it. You wanted him to die.” Bourdain added that during his travels, he noticed that the show was popular in countries like Yemen, Iran, Libya, and Afghanistan. “The show confirms their worst suspicions—that Americans are fat, lazy, slothful, [and] wasteful.” Bourdain then imagined a poor goat herder in the mountains of Afghanistan sitting in front of an old television after a long, hard days work and watching Richman choking on more animal protein than the farmer’s family would ever see in years. “I know what he’s thinking, ‘America is a terrible place. I want to join ISIS.’”

And then Guy stepped into this war of words in a profile at GQ:

“It’s actually disappointing,” Fieri says when I tell him about Bourdain’s show. “I don’t like him making fun of people, and I don’t like him talking shit. And he’s never talked shit to my face. I know he’s definitely gotta have issues, ’cos the average person doesn’t behave that way. It’s not that I’m not open to the reality that the food world was like this from a few people’s perspective. It’s just, What are you doing? What is your instigation? You have nothing else to fucking worry about than if I have bleached hair or not? I mean, fuck.”

But now Bourdain has had a change of heart. Apparently Bourdain internalized the fact that he sounded like a smug New York douche. He totally backtracked on his comments to the Daily News earlier this week:

“I have no hate in my heart for the guy. He doesn’t make me angry,” Bourdain told the Daily News, though he doesn’t have any plans to join Fieri at a diner, drive-in or dive anytime soon.

“He’s just low-hanging fruit. He’s a rich and deep source of comedy,” he continued, mentioning that the duo had dinner together a few years ago.

So the whole douche comments thing was for show? Like Jay-Z and Nas trying to sell albums in the late ’90s? Damn. I’d love to hear if there’s more to it. Maybe Fieri accidentally left an ATM receipt for Bourdain to see how much money he makes from his restaurant/entertainment empire. Bourdain probably realized that being king in middle America isn’t all that bad when it gets you a pretty sweet garage of as many yellow cars as you want.

 

 

Brandon Wenerd is BroBible's publisher, writing on this site since 2009. He writes about sports, music, men's fashion, outdoor gear, traveling, skiing, and epic adventures. Based in Los Angeles, he also enjoys interviewing athletes and entertainers. Proud Penn State alum, former New Yorker. Email: brandon@brobible.com