Jamie Oliver stops selling new kids book after Aboriginal community feedback
Famous chef **Jamie Oliver** pulled his childrenʼs book from stores worldwide due to concerns about its Aboriginal storyline. The book faced criticism for its portrayal of Indigenous Australian characters
Jamie Oliver (whose cooking shows made him super-famous) had to stop selling his new kids book because of how it talks about Aboriginal people. The story which happens in England has a weird side-plot about an Indigenous girl from Alice Springs being taken away by the bad guy
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation didnt like how the book showed their culture; they said it makes light of serious stuff that happened to their people. The group pointed out that the story was kinda-insensitive about foster care and Indigenous kids
I am devastated to have caused offence and apologise wholeheartedly
Penguin Random House (who printed the book) decided to take it off shelves everywhere - not just in Australia but also in UK and other places. They said: their job is making books for everyone but this time they messed up. Oliver who wrote his first kids book about Billy just last year is now in Australia showing off his new cook-book; he agreed that taking the book off sale was the right thing to do
The whole thing shows how important it is to think about other peoples stories - especially when writing about different cultures. The publisher said they need to do better next time‚ and Oliver promised to learn from this mix-up
