Sir Tim Smit APOLOGISES after branding some Cornish locals 'TOSSERS'
The Eden Project creator Sir Tim Smit APOLOGISES after he branded Cornish locals who criticise outsiders helping to bring in tourists as ‘TOSSERS’ in expletive-laden rant
- Sir Tim, 67, said Thursday he was sorry some of his comments ’caused offence’
- He insisted he was defending his ‘friend Rick Stein’ during the podcast rant
- Holland native said his comments were not targeted towards all Cornish people
The co-founder of the Eden Project has apologised to the people of Cornwall after branding ‘quite a few’ of them ‘tossers’ while defending his friend Rick Stein.
Sir Tim Smit, 67, executive vice-chairman of the Cornish tourist attraction, has brought millions of visitors to the county but caused a stir while speaking on The Reason Why podcast this week, hosted by comedian Seamas Carey.
In an episode entitled Overexposure, Sir Tim rushed to defend Padstow-based celebrity chef Stein, 75, who is criticised in some quarters for ‘representing’ Cornwall despite not being born in the county.
The 30-minute episode heard opposing views on the cook, with some praising him for bringing jobs to the area thanks to his multiple restaurants and cooking school – and his many documentaries praising the seaside town, which acted as his second home growing up.
However some were far more hostile, branding his food boxes ‘w***y’ and telling him to ‘f*** off’ – while one woman seemed to have no qualms with the businessman before realising he was not born in Cornwall, adding: ‘Oh well then f**k Rick Stein.’
When asked for his view, Sir Tim suggested the restaurateur’s detractors could represent themselves more often if they were ‘a bit more f****** articulate’.
Sir Tim Smit (pictured), 67, executive vice-chairman of The Eden Project, has brought millions of visitors to Cornwall but caused a stir while speaking on The Reason Why podcast this week, hosted by comedian Seamas Carey.
Sir Tim told Mr Carey that Stein is ‘personally quite anxious about being seen as a spokesman for Cornwall because he knows you get bricks thrown at you for saying you speak for anybody here’.
He added: ‘One of the problems in Cornwall is if you say anything – if you’re not Cornish – they say you’re an arrogant so-and-so speaking for the (locals).
‘You feel, and I don’t, but you feel like saying, ‘Well, if you were a bit more f****** articulate, you could speak up for yourself.’
‘You’ve all got mums who made the best pasties in the world and you talk about the good old days … but they’ve been bad for about 70 years because of tossers like you.
‘What I would say to quite a few Cornish people is that you cannot define your life in terms of what you don’t like. You’ve got to define it in terms of the sunny uplands you’d like to aspire to.
‘It is factually correct that Cornwall has been dealt a bad hand and it deserves significantly more.’
Sir Tim has since issued an apology following uproar over the comments.
‘I’m sorry that some of the comments I made in the podcast have caused offence,’ he said Thursday.
‘I hope that when people listen to the whole piece they will realise that I was speaking in the context of defending my friend Rick Stein and my strongest words were directed at people who seek to damn him for making Cornwall attractive to outsiders.
‘I wasn’t intending to comment on Cornish people as a whole, rather some of those who would tell you that the past was better than now when the truth is different; it was not.
The Stein family’s empire has been buoyed by furlough and the success of the Stein’s At Home seafood meal boxes (Pictured: with his ex-wife Jill in Padstow)
In an episode entitled Overexposure, Sir Tim rushed to defend Padstow-based celebrity chef Stein, who is often criticised in some quarters for ‘representing’ Cornwall despite not being born in the county. (Pictured: St Ives, Cornwall, in the height of summer)
‘Cornwall has been my home for more than 30 years and I don’t want a few harsh words on my part to damage the many friendships I’ve made in a place I love.
‘My comments in the round are extremely pro-Cornwall and the rightness of anger at the neglect of this special place – and an encouragement not to attack the wrong targets.’
Padstow has often been dubbed by Pad-Stein, due to the chef’s influence in the town.
He opened The Seafood Restaurant there in 1975, which operates as his flagship eatery, and he also has restaurants in Barnes, Sandbanks and Winchester.
Since then has launched a bistro, cafe, fish and chip shop, bar, fishmongers and cookery school in the seaside town.
His ex-wife Jill remains a co-owner and is an interior designer for the business, as well as being chairwoman of the tourism organisation Visit Cornwall.
The Eden Project, opened in 2000, consists of a series of glass domes containing thousands of species of plants and is estimated to have brought £1billion to the Cornish economy.
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