Martha Stewart Is On Team Don't Apologize For Sexual Misconduct With Cinnamon Rolls

How long does a viral article take to reach the desk of Martha Stewart? Apparently around a week.

Back in December, when Eater broke the story of Mario Batali's alleged sexual misconduct, action was swift. Within a few hours, Batali’s products were removed from the shelves at Eataly, and by the end of the week, he was fired from The Chew. Batali also soon issued an apology of sorts, followed, inexplicably, by a recipe for cinnamon rolls.

While many were offended and confused by the inclusion of a “holiday-inspired breakfast” (seriously, imagine making Batali’s cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning in 2017), writer Geraldine DeRuiter took it a step further and actually made the recipe. The resulting piece, “I Made the Pizza Cinnamon Rolls from Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter,” was both a hilarious take-down of the apology and the recipe itself as well as a chance for DeRuiter to talk about her own experiences with sexual harassment. It was also at turns hilarious, painful, and scathing.

The post, also published on Medium, quickly went viral. DeRuiter tells Refinery29 that the response to the piece (which got over a million clicks) has been “wonderfully positive.” Though, since her piece discussed sexism, she has also received hateful comments, had her Twitter hacked, and her blog has been targeted for hacking as well.

One reaction DeRuiter didn’t anticipate: that of Martha Stewart. On Wednesday, Stewart tweeted out the article, saying that her daughter, Alexis, had sent it to her.

Stewart’s thoughts on the piece are short but positive. “I read it this morning. Amazingly a pro pos ! Enjoy!” (Presumably, here Stewart means “apropos.”) DeRuiter’s response on Twitter was, “OH MY GOD. Martha Stewart just read my blog.” She followed up in a second tweet to offer to come on Stewart’s show to make cinnamon rolls, adding, “We will devour them and then the Patriarchy.” (Side note: absolutely 100% would watch.)

Stewart’s tweet of the piece was her first public comment on the Batali scandal. Previously, Stewart and Batali have been friendly, at least in public, and on each other’s shows. Stewart, however, is no stranger to sexual harassment in the workplace – back in October, she shared a story about an experience on a go-see when she was just sixteen years old. She described the incident as “harassment of the first order."

We have reached out to Martha Stewart’s team for comment on her reaction to the piece. We are also keeping our figures crossed to see Stewart devour the patriarchy, per DeRuiter's suggestion, on TV or really anywhere she wants to.