'Barefoot Contessa' taking heat for repeatedly rejecting 'Make-A-Wish' cancer patient

tehcloser

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The boy, who would watch Garten from his sick bed, told the Make-A-Wish Foundation that he wanted to meet the Food Network celebrity. When told that her schedule was too busy, Enzo opted to wait. When the request was made once more, Garten's representatives replied with a "definite no," according to the online blog that the family kept about the boy's illness.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dai...ejecting-make-a-wish-cancer-patient-enzo.html



:banghead: :loser: :banghead:

I hope she soon gets a karma casserole......
 
:snooty: I can't believe she would say no to this little boy. Everyone should make time for a child. She can do that $100.000 "charity" dinner but not make a meal for a child....:loser: The public is who makes these people famous, no matter how old. She should be there for this little boy.
 
Bah! Not good on you, barefoot lady! :loser::loser::loser:


(swimming with the dolphins sounds wonderful...)
 
an interesting take on it:

http://ifrymineinbutter.com/2011/03...-nice-things-the-people-vs-barefoot-contessa/


There are two things that immediately jump out at me:

1) Who leaked the story to TMZ?
2) Why did Make-A-Wish substantiate it?

For those who don’t watch The Food Network, one of its cherished stars Ina Garten – a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa, whose cooking show is a snotty blend of cliquishness and bland New England lockjaw inspired cuisine, allegedly denied a request for a “dying” boy – who by the way is sick, but not dying as the article purported – to cook a meal together. Those are the only “facts” you’ll find contained in any report of the alleged event.
 
I will probably get skinned alive for this but I don't get where the extreme ire is coming from. I never watch cooking shows so I'm not familiar with this woman, but I don't see where she has any obligation to meet with anyone. It would be nice if she made some gesture, however, and I have a feeling she will now that this has gone viral.

I have no doubt that celebrities turn down requests like this all of the time. I read part of the mother's blog about this and I'm a bit irritated that she seems to think anyone would drop everything to meet with her son. I wonder if the mother is where tmz got this story.

I guess to sum it up, I'm not down with the guilt trip being laid on somebody to satisfy somebody's else's wish or, in this case, demand.
 
Not everyone is good at being around sick people. Maybe she is busy, or maybe she can't handle the idea of being a dying child's "last wish." I don't know - I'd have to know more before I condemn her for this. Just MOO.
 
Apparently, the child has been waiting over a year to meet her. Even if her schedule is so busy that she can't take one day off, she could have the child on her TV Show or just have him follow her around for the day.
 
Right, but she signed up for it, am I right? She does this for children and adults-- works closely with the organization. So... maybe she's picky?

eta: Quote: A representative for Garten told the site: "Despite her demanding schedule, [Ina] participates and helps as many organizations as she can throughout the year, helping children and adults like Enzo with life threatening and compromising illnesses. ... Unfortunately, as much as she would like to, it's absolutely impossible for her to grant every request she receives."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dai...ejecting-make-a-wish-cancer-patient-enzo.html
 
We have another part of the same story here:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131627"]Make A Wish child is spoiled for choice - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]
 
Apparently, the child has been waiting over a year to meet her. Even if her schedule is so busy that she can't take one day off, she could have the child on her TV Show or just have him follow her around for the day.

But if the child isn't terminal, couldn't the meeting be scheduled for some day in the future? I don't understand the reporting on this.

I will say that a close friend of mine provided the voice for a well-known Disney heroine. She gets requests from Make a Wish and similar organizations all the time, usually to phone the child so the kid can pretend s/he is talking to the character. Talking to terminal children practically kills her, but she has never turned down a request--even though once or twice she has a phoned a child only to discover the kid died just an hour or two before the call went through.
 
an interesting take on it:

http://ifrymineinbutter.com/2011/03...-nice-things-the-people-vs-barefoot-contessa/


There are two things that immediately jump out at me:

1) Who leaked the story to TMZ?
2) Why did Make-A-Wish substantiate it?

For those who don’t watch The Food Network, one of its cherished stars Ina Garten – a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa, whose cooking show is a snotty blend of cliquishness and bland New England lockjaw inspired cuisine, allegedly denied a request for a “dying” boy – who by the way is sick, but not dying as the article purported – to cook a meal together. Those are the only “facts” you’ll find contained in any report of the alleged event.

Of course she isn't obligated to meet anyone, but I fail to see why it is impossible for her to meet a sick child who waited a really long time.
 
How come we are only seeing this reported in blogs?

I think I might have seen one entry that was in an online newspaper. I'm wondering how accurate this report is if we are only seeing it in blogs and the originating reporting entity was TMZ? I'm not so sure we can trust TMZ as a source?

Disclaimer: I'm not being snarky. I'm never snarky when I post here. I'm never sarcastic either and where this post lands is totally random to other points of view on this thread. LOL.
 
That's weird. All this time, I thought The Barefoot Contessa was that very pretty woman who has an Italian Cooking show.
 
I thought that too Steadfast. I think you are talking about [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giada_De_Laurentiis[/ame] ?

That's how I thought of when I heard the barefoot contessa and then I actually watched one show (probably the only show) and realized that they were two different people.
 
I thought that too Steadfast. I think you are talking about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giada_De_Laurentiis ?

That's how I thought of when I heard the barefoot contessa and then I actually watched one show (probably the only show) and realized that they were two different people.
Yes! Thank you. That's exactly who I thought it was. I saw the real Barefoot Contessa at one of the links on here, and I've never seen that woman before in my life.
I bet Giada De Laurentiis would be willing to do something nice for a child with cancer.
 
But if the child isn't terminal, couldn't the meeting be scheduled for some day in the future? I don't understand the reporting on this.

I will say that a close friend of mine provided the voice for a well-known Disney heroine. She gets requests from Make a Wish and similar organizations all the time, usually to phone the child so the kid can pretend s/he is talking to the character. Talking to terminal children practically kills her, but she has never turned down a request--even though once or twice she has a phoned a child only to discover the kid died just an hour or two before the call went through.

The child does have a terminal illness. You have to have a terminal illness to get a wish granted by the Make a Wish foundation. The child asked to meet her, she said she was busy, so the child say he would wait, and then she turned him down, a year later.

I can see why a Disney character would be popular but I highly doubt there are that many sick children who want to meet Ina Garten since she really isn't marketed towards children.

OT: What Disney character did your friend voice?
 
Honestly? My mom loves to watch Barefoot Contessa, but I can't really stand it. The food looks great, but she seems kinda snooty to me so this doesn't surprise me.

MOO
 
As a fan of Ina Garten, I am disappointed and saddened to learn that she refused to meet with a sick child. In her defense, perhaps the thought of meeting one-on-one with a child who is ill makes Ms. Garten uncomfortable since she has no children of her own. I don't want to jump to conclusions about Ina lacking compassion until I hear the other side of the story. jmo
 
That's weird. All this time, I thought The Barefoot Contessa was that very pretty woman who has an Italian Cooking show.

Don't feel bad, I thought he wanted to meet Ava Gardner. :D

Seriously, I'm familiar with Ina Garten and don't really care for her or her style of cooking. JMO Somehow, I'm not surprised that she turned down the child.

She might not be obligated to make the child's wish come true, but it would have been the decent thing to do. JMO On the other hand, there are always two sides to a story, and I'd like to hear hers.
 
If she was uncomfortable with meeting a sick child, she could have made a video of herself baking a cake specifically for the child, tell him that she was sorry she couldn't make it, and send him the cake she baked for him.
 

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