Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has withdrawn his latest children’s book, Billy and the Epic Escape, from shelves after backlash over its portrayal of Indigenous Australians.
The 400-page fantasy novel, released earlier this year, follows the story of an Aboriginal girl with mystical powers who lives in foster care and is abducted from her home in central Australia.
Indigenous leaders have criticized the book, describing it as “offensive” and saying it contributes to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences.”
While currently promoting his newest cookbook in Australia, Oliver expressed his regret over the controversy.
“It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue,” he said in a statement, adding that he was “devastated” to have caused harm.
Penguin Random House UK, the book’s publisher, acknowledged that Oliver had asked for Indigenous Australians to be consulted during the book’s creation.
However, an “editorial oversight” meant this consultation did not take place.
One aspect drawing particular criticism is the book’s portrayal of the young character’s ability to read minds and communicate with animals and plants, described as “the Indigenous way.”
Sharon Davis of a national First Nations education body said this reduces “complex and diverse belief systems” to mere “magic.”
The character’s storyline of abduction has also been deemed “insensitive,” especially in light of the Stolen Generations—a period during which Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families under assimilation policies in Australia.
Further concerns were raised over the girl’s language, which mixes vocabulary from the Gamilaraay people of New South Wales and Queensland despite her origin in Mparntwe (Alice Springs).
“This shows complete disregard for the vast differences among First Nations languages, cultures, and practices,” Davis added.
Wiradyuri author and publisher Dr. Anita Heiss voiced her concerns to The Guardian Australia: “There is no space in Australian publishing (or elsewhere) for our stories to be told through a colonial lens by authors with little, if any, connection to the people and place they are writing about.”
In response to the backlash, Oliver and Penguin Random House have decided to remove the book from global sale.
Penguin issued a statement acknowledging, “It is clear that our publishing standards fell short on this occasion, and we must learn from that.”
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