In the wake of sexual assault accusations against Asia Argento, CNN has pulled three episodes of “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” from their streaming service featuring the actress and boyfriend of the late celebrity chef.
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, CNN said they were pulling the episodes after actor Jimmy Bennett accused Argento of sexually assaulting him when he was 17 years old in 2013. CNN also pulled an episode in which Bourdain discussed his battle with depression during a visit to Buenos Aires, but did not provide an explanation.
CNN did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for further comment.
Argento had previously been a prominent figure in the #MeToo movement after coming forward last year with her own sexual assault accusations against Harvey Weinstein during the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Argento denied Bennett’s accusations, but told The Guardian that she, Bennett and Bourdain mutually agreed to handle the matter privately, with Bourdain paying Bennett $380,000 for his silence.
“Bennett knew my boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, was a man of great perceived wealth, and had his own reputation as a beloved public figure to protect,” Argento said.
“Anthony insisted the matter be handled privately and this was also what Bennett wanted. Anthony was afraid of the possible negative publicity that such a person, whom he considered dangerous, could have brought upon us.”
Argento first met Bourdain during an appearance on “Parts Unknown” in 2016, when he traveled to Rome for an episode of his show’s eighth season. She appeared again two seasons later after the two started dating on an episode traveling through Southern Italy, and later directed an episode centered around Hong Kong.
“To fall in love with Asia is one thing. To fall in love in Asia is another. Both have happened to me,” Bourdain said in the Hong Kong episode, which aired one month prior to him taking his own life in June.
CNN will air the final five episodes of “Parts Unknown” starting later this month.
Anthony Bourdain's Best TV Moments, From a Meal With Obama to a Trip to Waffle House (Videos)
"Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer." Bourdain famously tweeted this line along with a photo of himself and President Obama hunching over a small table in Vietnam as he demonstrated the best way to slurp noodles. It's an incredible sight to see both Obama and Bourdain so at home with their worldly curiosity and feels like an image of Americans at their best.
You may know it from the documentary "Jiro Dreams Of Sushi," but Bourdain got to the best sushi in the world first. In this clip he makes a great case for what it is to be a master of something and the importance of respecting someone else's values by eating something the way it was served. That means no soy sauce and no wasabi, just total faith that what you're about to eat will already taste like perfection.
Bourdain was known as a "rock star" chef for how he approached life with reckless abandon. So it makes sense that he'd be close with a bona fide rock star in Iggy Pop. While he had a lot of great musical moments lunching with musicians such as Serj Tankian in Armenia or The Black Keys in Kansas City, his finest moment came in Miami, where he sat down for a hilariously healthy and refined meal with one of punk's legends. "What does it say about us that we're now sitting in a healthy restaurant, I just came from the gym, and we're sitting in Florida?"
Bourdain's brash personality shines through in this brief clip in which he shows a little disdain at being so well known for making a relatively simple dish like scrambled eggs. But they might be the best scrambled eggs you'll make, and it's a must try. "Isn't it nice to do something vaguely normal like cooking for yourself," he says in the video. "I feel like a human being again."
Part of Bourdain's charm was that he was unapologetic about things he didn't like and had a way with words to embody his disgust. In this amusing clip of him talking with Conan O'Brien, he recalls a depressing meal he had at an airport Johnny Rocket's that he called temporarily "soul-destroying." "We all sort of stood there silently for a second, kind of sharing this moment of perfect misery. None of us were where we wanted to be."
One of Bourdain's more amusing discoveries in plain sight was him finally venturing to a Waffle House, this one in Charleston, South Carolina. The way he describes Waffle House as an inclusive, welcoming place with a warming, inviting yellow glow feels like a beautiful, microcosm of America.
"Neither East nor West but always somewhere in the middle," Bourdain says in this 2014 episode of "Parts Unknown" where he found some unexpected bonds with an Iranian family, sitting down to a glorious Persian, home cooked meal. He went in fully knowing that American audiences might react negatively to it and hoped to break down barriers.
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Late chef, traveler and host was a man of the world — these moments define his love affair with food and culture
"Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer." Bourdain famously tweeted this line along with a photo of himself and President Obama hunching over a small table in Vietnam as he demonstrated the best way to slurp noodles. It's an incredible sight to see both Obama and Bourdain so at home with their worldly curiosity and feels like an image of Americans at their best.
