American History XL : a reformed nazi skin’s new career as a food blogger is jeopardized when past discog.com purchases are made public. Starring Shia LaBeouf.
OK, that’s not happening. But under the headline, “Eater.com Editor Placed On Leave After Apologizing for Racist Punk Past”, Gawker’s J.K. Trotter dug into the musical history of Eater’s Nick Solares, aka English Nick of ’80’s NYHC Y.D.L. aka Youth Defense League. Shortly prior to said post, Solares had issued an apology and disavowal of his racist past (“I was a British kid who wound up falling in with a group of white-pride American nationalists, and while I was part of this group I believed the hateful things that they believed, and helped spread the message. I was the lead singer of a popular hardcore band and fed off — and indeed contributed to — the darker impulses of the scene,”), but not everybody’s inclined to forgive or forget, in particular, Grub Street’s Eddie Huang :
Eater is not all-powerful by any means, but the Solares story raises the question: Who is forming the identity of this industry? The people living in this city? The people cooking the food? The people serving us? Or the former skinhead assigning restaurant reviews? Helen Rosner, the site’s executive editor, compared it to shoplifting at the age of 23. There seems to be an unwillingness to examine potential bias or a willful misunderstanding of bias in his position and how it works.”For those keeping score, Gawker’s zeal in recirculating Solares’ story is in very stark contrast to the online media company’s radio silence concerning the below photo of former Deadspin editor Will Leitch :
The photo in question has appeared on this site no fewer than 8 times since 2008, appearing for the first time several months before Leitch’s departure from Gawker Media. Leitch, whose tenure at Gawker went an awfully long way towards establishing Nick Denton’s commercial viability, faced zero questions about the photograph in questions, and nobody in the Nü Media landscape held his publisher to nearly the sort of scrutiny Eater’s parent company, Vox Media is experiencing today.
None of which is to say that Solares oughta be given a lifetime pass for hateful sentiments (or shitty music). But I don’t think Solares’ ascent in the world of food blogging (yes, I am typing those words with a straight face) is any more or less a commentary on institutionalized racism than Will Leitch’s teflon-face.
(ADDENDUM : kind of amazing timing from another Gawker property today).
In defense of Nick Solares…
My name is Brendan Rafferty
In the 1980’s, I was also a part of the New York hardcore scene, but was on the polar opposite end of the political spectrum. I was actively involved in anti-racist and anti-nationalist organizations organizations and, on occasion, had direct physical confrontations with racist and nationalist skinheads.
Our scene was small and i knew Nick, but we avoided each other at the time. It is important to note that neither I nor anyone in any of the groups I was involved with ever went after Nick, or some of the other local skinheads who shared his views.
That was because they never did anything.
While I despised Nick’s beliefs, he never acted on them. He never threw a brick or raised a fist… or even raised his voice in anger at a member of any minority.
In fact, not only did he never actually commit violence against leftists or any minorities, you were more likely to find him sitting and having a drink and joking with leftists and minorities on our scene.
I know for a personal fact that Nick has changed and completely rejected his beliefs.
We all grow up and Nick Solares definitely did.
This man I once viewed as an enemy and avoided contact with to avoid violence is someone I now gladly call a friend.
In fact, the last time I saw him in person, I put my arm around him at a concert as we both sang along to the Cuban born singer on stage.
As to my bona fides… this is video of me in 1988…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCNvJU06UZI
thanks, Brendan.
Appreciate your sharing this.
As an aside, the point of my post is not to deny Solares a place to write about dim sum or stadium dogs or you-name-it (getting hungry here, btw), but to point out the slight disconnect in how his story is considered newsworthy, but Will Leitch’s halloween costume wasn’t.
One Gawker Media rep took to Twitter today to argue that a) Will was no longer in their employ, and b) their Solares story wasn’t a condemnation. Both of these things are true, though whether or not you consider that a cop out might depend on what nu-media social circles you travel in.
Indeed, the photo of Will is not particularly recent. But it’s far more recent than old jpgs of YDL performances and also much more recent than a photo of Joy Behar in what Jezebel deems, “blackface-lite” (published just this afternoon).
You mean an offensive halloween costume is not viewed with the same degree of seriousness as leading a crypto-nazi band for several years and then hanging out with known neo-nazis 3 years ago?
I wonder why.
interesting point. Except Gawker Media considers Joyce Behar’s choice of a Halloween costume in the year 1971 far more newsworthy than Will Leitch’s far more recently.
http://jezebel.com/hmm-here-is-joy-behar-dressed-as-a-beautiful-african-w-1776541379