Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez may or may not control the flow of commerce, but one powerful force is definitely in their hands: celebrities. These two have been known to hang out with Oprah, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian, and, somehow, Beyoncé. So naturally, when restaurateur Keith McNally insulted Sánchez on Instagram for no apparent reason, he got a swift kick in the face from the billionaire couple’s large store of star power. Here’s what happened.
Haven’t I heard this name before?
McNally owns the Soho restaurant Balthazar, but lately has become more known for his unhinged social-media antics. In 2021, for example, he urged his followers not to “rush to judgment” about Ghislaine Maxwell, who was at the time facing trial for sex-trafficking charges stemming from her close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
McNally also has a habit of getting into feuds with celebrities, namely comedian and Cats cast member James Corden. In 2022, McNally took to Instagram to call Corden a “tiny cretin of a man,” claiming he had banned the late-night host from Balthazar for berating waiters on two separate occasions. (One of the incidents revolved around an egg-yolk omelet, a protein-forward breakfast dish I hope never to try.) While most of us can probably agree that Corden kind of sucks — and that egg-yolk omelets sound gross — things quickly spiraled out of control. Several weeks, two more Instagram posts, and a New York Times profile later, McNally had reversed and then reinstated his Corden ban, Corden had apologized and unapologized, and their beef had become more tedious than juicy.
What did McNally do now?
On Monday, he published a seemingly unprompted rant about Jeff Bezos’s fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. “Does anybody else find Jeff Bezos’ New wife — Lauren Sanchez — ABSOLUTELY REVOLTING?” he wrote under a carousel of images of the couple. “What an ugly and Fucking SMUG – LOOKING couple they make. Is this what having 1000 Billion dollars does to people?”
It is thoroughly unclear what chain of events spurred McNally to share these thoughts — all available evidence suggests Sánchez orders eggs in a totally normal way. Maybe he didn’t like her White House corset?
Who has responded?
Naturally, the couple’s famous friends were not about to stand for her being called “revolting” clear out of the blue. In the days since McNally posted his screed, a number of famous women rushed to Sánchez’s defense. Chrissy Teigen, a frequent presence in the comments section of celebrity Instagrams, commented on McNally’s post, “She’s actually incredibly dynamic, accomplished and kind, and everyone who knows her would say the same.” In a since-deleted comment, Jerry Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica Seinfeld, told McNally, “This post is a reflection of your twisted, pitiful, and hideous mind. Lauren has twice the character you do.” (Seinfeld also claimed McNally had recently “bad-mouthed my editor in front of a room full of people.”) MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle added, “I think she’s accomplished, kind, smart and loved,” calling McNally’s missive “mean for no reason.”
Meanwhile, TV producer and former Cosmo editor-in-chief Joanna Coles, who was recently put at the helm of the Daily Beast, added some ego-stroking embellishments to a job opening for a Sánchez-focused correspondent at the publication. “Disappointed my favorite restaurateur Keith McNally has gone after Lauren Sanchez,” she wrote in the caption of her post. “No one since Brooke Astor has dominated the American social landscape faster than Ms Sanchez with her aviation skills, philanthropy and fabulosity.” Elaborating on the position, which she apparently fast-tracked after McNally’s post, Coles told the New York Postthat she’s “never seen anybody land on the radar of Americans as fast and as brilliantly.” She described Sánchez as “a mix of Brooke Astor, Amelia Earhart and Jennifer Aniston all in one.” I wonder what Astor, a famously unpretentious socialite whom the Timesonce described as “aristocrat of the people,” would have thought of all this?
What does Sánchez say?
Sánchez has not addressed McNally’s post directly, but she did put a handful of pointed quotes on her Instagram Stories. One, attributed to Rachel Zoe, said, “Lead with kindness, root for other people, cheer for those you love.” Another was a photo of a wall printed with the words, “People will love you. People will hate you. And none of it will have anything to do with you.”
So far, the closest McNally has come to taking back what he said was his announcement that he’d finished his memoir. The title? I Regret Almost Everything.
Related
- Lauren Sanchez Wore a Corset Dress to the White House
- Of Course Lauren Sánchez Wrote a Children’s Book About Space
Danielle Cohen , 2024-04-17 22:43:57
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