‘Top Chef’ Contestant Recalls Gay-Bashing

SEA CLIFF, N.Y., Sept. 13

The former “Top Chef” contestant beaten in an alleged gay-bashing in New York said she has never seen people so angry, the New York Post said Thursday.

Josie Smith-Malave, an openly gay, 32-year-old woman who appeared on Season 2 of the Bravo cooking series, said she, her sister and a gay friend were beaten while others watched, laughed and took photographs during a terrifying ordeal outside a bar in Sea Cliff, N.Y.

“It was a very large group of young adults. I mean, they were so angry,” Smith-Malave told the Post. “I have never experienced something like that before, when you come face to face with people who are so angry.”

The incident began when Smith-Malave, her heterosexual sister, Julie Smith, and her gay friend, Emily Durwood, were asked to leave the bar Partners on Sept. 1.

The three women left and were followed outside by “a mob of nine to 12 young adults,” said a statement released by the office of attorney Yetta Kurland.

Shouting slurs while throwing “sticks, cups and other objects” and spitting at them, the crowd gathered around the women before attacking them, the Post report said.

Police are investigating the incident.

Copyright United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

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1 Comment so far

  1. Carron Baths March 10th, 2010 9:19 pm

    Great comment, love the design of the site too.

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