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Natan Dvir / Polaris / laif
Even great dramas sometimes begin as a farce.
In May last year, Alison Roman, food columnist for the New York Times, gave an interview in which she gossiped about two female colleagues who had made fame and fortune online.
Roman accused the order queen Marie Kondo and the internet chef Chrissy Teigen of shamelessly using their popularity to sell cutlery boxes and saucepans - which was not without humor, after all, Roman had already acquired a small marketing empire with its own spoon collection.
The quarrel between women in the manageable world of food and order fanatics would probably have remained if it hadn't taken its own turn on the Internet.
Kondo is from Japan, the supermodel Teigen has a Thai mother, and a debate quickly developed on Twitter about the allegedly racist remarks by Romans, which spilled over into the traditional media from there.
"This is not just about a woman who puts down other women," said an outraged editorial in the Washington Post.
"Here we see a white woman killing two Asian women, when there are enough white and male businessmen to work off." Roman published a contrite apology and vowed to become more aware of her own "white privileges" in the future close.
It was useless.
Roman's column was suspended, and the author quit the paper soon after.
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