Exploratory Committee

Emeril Lagasse Laments ‘All the Obama Nonsense’

Lagasse.
Lagasse. Photo: Dylan Rives/Getty Images

This is probably not the ideal way to promote a new show: At an event centered around TNT’s upcoming On the Menu, the show’s host, Emeril Lagasse, reportedly got a little bleak. According to a story on The Week, Lagasse is very concerned about the state of mid-range restaurants in America: “It’s becoming a very challenging industry to become a very successful average restaurateur,” the celebrity chef is quoted as saying. “I can’t charge $300 a person in my restaurant or I would not be in business.”

But the most surprising part is when Lagasse points the blame squarely at the government. “And then you add all the Obama nonsense to what it’s become in the last several years. I don’t have anything against Mr. Obama. I’m just saying … the government should stay out of things.”

He then apparently added, “Pretty soon, they’re going to wipe a lot of the middle restaurateurs … If it continues, then watch: you’re going to have high-end, and you’re going to have fast food, and you’re going to have chain restaurants.”

The new show that Lagasse was promoting, by the way, is described as a “series in which everyday cooks will vie for the chance to have their own dishes served in major restaurant chains across the country.”

[The Week]

Emeril Lagasse Laments ‘All the Obama Nonsense’