Potty-mouthed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay offered a public apology on Wednesday to a popular Australian TV presenter whom he suggested was an ugly pig.
The cook was forced to swallow humble pie over his attack on Tracy Grimshaw, presenter of A Current Affair on the Nine Network, after his mother called him to tell him she was disgusted with him.
Ramsay’s rant last weekend prompted outrage in Australia and led Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to call him a “low-life.”
“I’d just like to take this opportunity to apologize for my stupid comments,” Ramsay told the Nine Network. “I’m mortified that the whole thing has gone this far, my apologies.”
The British chef attacked Grimshaw at a Melbourne cooking expo on Saturday, a day after she interviewed him.
In front of thousands of onlookers, Ramsay suggested Grimshaw needed “to see Simon Cowell’s botox doctor.”
He also showed a picture of a woman apparently naked on all fours with the face of a pig and said “that’s Tracy Grimshaw.”
Reports also suggested he said she was a lesbian, but he strenuously denied the allegation. Ramsay initially shrugged off his comments as a joke. Grimshaw responded on Tuesday by questioning his treatment of women, including his wife.
But he backed down on Wednesday, facing a wave of negative publicity, describing the comments as “stupid” and “careless.”
Ramsay revealed it was a phone call from his mother that made him realize he had gone too far.
“When your mum rings you and its a bollocking down the telephone, then of course you begin to get the picture,” he said. “She was disgusted, she wanted to know what actually happened.”
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