'Barefoot Contessa' Ina Garten getting bad press for snubbing 6 year old Make a Wish kid

[Liberal_in_LA]

Make-a-Wish Kid Turns 'Barefoot Contessa' Ina Garten Down

The tables have turned on Food Network star Ina Garten, the 'Barefoot Contessa,' who was publicly shamed last week for turning down a Make-a-Wish kid. On Monday, she called the family of Enzo Pereda, a 6-year-old cancer patient, to say she had reconsidered, but now TMZ is reporting they turned her down.

"This has been a disaster for Ina," a foodie insider tells PopEater's Rob Shuter. "She buried her head in the sand for days hoping the bad publicity would go over, but it didn't."

To a casual observer -- as well as the scores of new ex-fans -- Ina's change of heart on Monday appeared to be possibly driven more by the desire to nip a festering scandal in the bud, rather than to make a sick little boy's dream come true.

"She was worried her initial reaction was hurting her business," Shuter's source contends.

Ina had twice blown off meeting Enzo after the wonderful Make-a-Wish Foundation approached her before being shamed into finally contacting his family, independently of the foundation.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/03/31/make-a-wish-kid-turns-barefoot-contessa-ina-garten-down/?ncid=txtlnkustv00000002

[madrchsod]

1. i emailed food network about her and i bet thousands did too...

payback is best served cold

[sdfernando]

5. Not much more she can do

she royally screwed herself on this one. The one thing she can do that might take the tiniest bit of sting off of this whole scandal is make a VERY GENEROUS donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in that family's name. Seems like that would be a proper thing to do but still doesn't make up for what she did.

[a la izquierda]

9. i did too.

i used to love her...not any more.

[RebelOne]

10. I love her show, but now I'm having second thoughts.

This is the first I have heard about this incident.

[a la izquierda]

12. Won't watch her even a second ever again.

[Renew Deal]

2. What kid would want to see her?

:shrug:

Is he some huge fan of the food network? If I was chosen I'd jump through flaming hoops to show up for the kid. She should have played along.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. While sick with Leukemia he'd lie in bed and watch her show. Wanted to cook with her.

[monmouth]

3. She and Jeffrey divorced? Who knew..Ina made a huge mistake here...n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. Didn't know about the divorce. In episodes (Reruns?) she talks about cooking for him.

[asjr]

4. Hard to believe this actually happened. I don't believe it.

[FLAprogressive]

8. Well she deserves it!!!

[Raine]

11. I've watched her, she "seemed" like a nice person

maybe it's not her fault, maybe it was scheduling or she didn't get the memo. It's so disheartening when someone who seems nice has such a selfish cold side. One can never be cynical enough in this world.

[KittyWampus]

13. Ina- here's some poop from when she had her shop. She hooked up a refrigerator truck to the

powerline in the parking lot and stole electricity. She was busted and damned lucky she wasn't taken in handcuffs. The chief of police did her a favor and handled it more discreetly.

At the end of the summer season, she promised the people working there they'd get bonuses for staying on til she closed later in the Fall. A lot of those people travel to Florida or Colorado to work during off seasons. She didn't pay up.