Alison Roman Rehabbing on Colbert

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PGage

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May 14, 2020, 11:22:09 PM5/14/20
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Saw this Tweet just now:


About 90% of my follows on Twitter are journalists, scientists and politicians. One of the few celebrities I follow, on Twitter and Instagram, is Chrissy Teigen, who is the absolute boss of the internet. I had never to my memory heard of Alison Roman until last week, when CT tweeted that she was bummed about what some woman chef said about her in some off brand internet interview. That led me down the rabbit hole, reading the article, Roman’s initial aggressive restatement and defense, the overwhelming negative Twitter response (why do people keep thinking they can come for Chrissy Teigen?) and the inevitable apology, first half-assed, then faux-sincere. The apology phase was particularly inevitable because, as Chrissy pointed out in her response, but apparently Roman was not initially aware of, Teigen had signed on to be one of the producers of a TV show Roman wanted to do.

I will be asleep before this show airs here in CA tonight, but will check it out in the morning. Particularly interested in if Colbert interviews her, and if so if they address this (and how could they not?). I assume that for most people, like me, if they have heard of her at all it is because of this episode, or if it is just a happy talk cooking segment. Would also like to know if they booked her before the incident, or because of it. 

The comments to the tweet announcing her visit give a flavor of how popular Roman is right now. Not a great look for Colbert to look like he is trying to rehab her. Would be interesting though if he manages to have a real conversation, without either defending her (or trying to make her look like a victim of internet bullying) or piling on, but exploring what her original point was (which I still don’t understand, it seems to be something like: “everyone who tries to monetize their cookery is a sell out late capitalist whore, except me”). Also, whatever her point was, why did she choose to make it by picking out of nowhere two Asian women? There aren’t enough white men in the celebrity cooking world to go after? And is Kondo even in the same Space?

If you don’t know, but still want to know, about the bru ha ha, see Roman‘s: 
https://twitter.com/fromedome/status/1258513965937614848?s=21 and following) and Teigen’s: 
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/1258904780090425344?s=21 Twitter posts. To her credit CT was pretty much one and done with it.

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PGage

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May 14, 2020, 11:30:27 PM5/14/20
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Or wait. Is the Tweet just a Colbert joke?

Jim Ellwanger

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May 14, 2020, 11:32:12 PM5/14/20
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My DVR does have her listed as one of the scheduled guests (along with John Lithgow).

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Kevin M.

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May 14, 2020, 11:34:43 PM5/14/20
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I blocked Teigen years ago and I had never heard of Roman until she trended recently. My fiancée is obsessed with Kondo (luckily I fill her with joy, so she hasn’t tossed me... yet). My takeaway from Roman is that she thinks it is disingenuous for personalities to write or speak about simplifying your life (not depending on material possessions to make you happy) while at the same time promoting/selling cheap crap with their name on it. She got blasted for naming names. It’s a legitimate criticism, but could have been better worded... and the people she named could’ve been a bit more diverse.

PS- Sorry, but Grumpy Skeletor is the boss of the internet


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PGage

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May 15, 2020, 12:12:53 AM5/15/20
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Roman specifically called out CT, unprovoked  by the interviewer, for selling out by monetizing her interest in cooking (wrongly, as it turns out, since CT has not made any profit from it, at least yet) right before asserting that she (Roman) herself needed to monetize her interest in cooking, and having bragged about the pending TV show that (apparently I know to her) CT was co-producing. 

I don’t see much fair in that. 

As for Kondo, well I’m one of the people who have never seen her show, read her book, or felt the need to simplify my life, so I pass on her.

David Bruggeman

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May 15, 2020, 1:06:52 AM5/15/20
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Giving some space, just to be safe...


When doing a cooking segment with Jose Andres, the show appeared to do away with the cooking show staple of having finished dishes ready to go.  For my viewing experience, it was one of the better cooking show segments I've seen.  I think it's because the host actually had to do some cooking.  Not that I didn't like Dave guzzling the cooking sherry behind the cook's back, but I like watching people cook.  It does make for two-segment cooking bits.




I think Colbert would be one Fallon-style accident away from being suspected of having a drinking problem, if it weren't for Stephen's preference for 'classier' booze over whatever Jagermeister is (besides a bad idea).





Just a little further.....




These "Tooning Out The News" promos make me think I don't have to watch the show because I've already seen the good parts.  How good the good parts are is a separate question.






FINALLY:

Stephen notes before the segment starts that it was taped two weeks ago, and mentions nothing of Roman's recent comments.  Given the state of things with Roman and Teigen, the show could have punted this to Monday or some later date.  Maybe they've run out of banked content?

David


PGage

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May 15, 2020, 8:58:21 AM5/15/20
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I did note the soft disclaimer at the start of the cooking segment (I don’t like watching people cook, and would have clicked off had I not wanted to get a sense of what this woman was like). 

The disclaimer makes my subject header inaccurate in terms of the intention of the booking, but maybe not in terms of its potential function. I’m sure Roman was glad she had that opportunity to present herself to a wider audience with a likable host just at this time.

I actually do think there is an important subtext to this social media moment, but won’t belabor it here as it is less television and more broadly pop culture related. I wondered if Colbert would want to invite CT back (she has done at least one cooking segment of her own with him) to talk about it, but I guess there is really no percentage for him in wading into the intricate neurotic minefield of liberal-on-liberal social media crime.

In searching for confirmation last night that Roman really was going to be on Colbert, I did find this clip from last year (which I think maybe was discussed here at the time) of Colbert riffing on why nobody should ever go after Chrissy Teigen on Twitter:


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Joe Hass

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May 15, 2020, 9:44:41 AM5/15/20
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To help clarify just a smidge: the shots at Kondo (one that while I didn't take, I wholeheartedly endorse) weren't that she was monetizing her fame, it was that she was doing so by peddling the type of products that she would argue in her book you should get rid of. The perfect (hypothetical) equivalent would've been Linda McCarthy endorsing a line of Shepherd's Pie (Now With 20% More Chicken Flavour!).

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PGage

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May 15, 2020, 3:29:55 PM5/15/20
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So, I do understand Roman’s critique of Kondo. What I don’t understand is the logic of Roman in particular making that critique. 

With CT, I get the logic Of the attack (even as I dispute its accuracy): CT occupies a space (provider of online cooking content for People of a certain level of moderate affluence and hipness). CT is coke and Roman is Pepsi (well, she’s more like RC Cola, but okay) and she wants to elbow into that space and take some of CT’s customers. 

But how is Kondo a competitor to Roman? Does Kondo cook too? The more I learn about Roman (and I suspect that learning has reached asymptote for me) it seems maybe she styles herself as the simplicity chef, cooking with whatever you have on hand in the house (though, while I know what a shallot is and have had them in my house, they don’t just hang out in my kitchen waiting to be used in some rustic home chef recipe for pasta. If we - well, my wife or kids - are making something that calls for shallots they send me the extra 20 miles to Trader Joe’s to get them) and it is this simplicity space that Roman sees herself as competing with Kondo for?

It just seems to me that Roman’s attack on CT was logical from a competitive perspective, though invalid, while her attack on Kondo was illogical from a competitive perspective, even if valid.

Joe, maybe your Linda McCartney analogy got at this, but I am not up enough on Paul McCartney wife trivia to follow it. When I want to use Beatles wives to drive home a point, I go the more cliched Yoko route...

Kevin M.

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May 15, 2020, 3:38:03 PM5/15/20
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I suspect the inclusion of Teigen amongst those she complained about was intentional because it attracts attention, and there’s no such thing as bad publicity for some people 

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Joe Hass

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May 15, 2020, 3:48:03 PM5/15/20
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PGage: the Linda reference was just about a vegetarian promoting a meat product.

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PGage

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May 15, 2020, 7:33:40 PM5/15/20
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Shoot! That is one of the things I know about her.

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