‘To those that publicly dumped me’: Pete Evans responds to axing

After announcing he was quitting Facebook on Friday, Pete Evans is back today to address being dumped by a string of brands.

Despite announcing he had quit the social media giant, Pete Evans is still on Facebook.

After telling people to “get the popcorn out”, the celebrity chef is keeping people hanging by posting on his page today, despite announcing he was quitting the platform on Friday and supposedly closing his account.

Evans - who calls himself a “free thinker” - usually deletes negative comments or blocks accounts, but those who commented on his latest post today plugging one of his recipes were quick to ask why he was still on Facebook.

“Still here I see. So much for leaving fb, I guess everyone now knows lies and fake machines are what you really sell,” one person wrote.

Another pointed out you could get the recipe he shared for free elsewhere, without subscribing to his Evolve platform he is trying to recruit fans to.

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Evans’ departure from Facebook came after he made headlines last week for sharing a supposed neo-Nazi cartoon.

Before that he’d claimed people were not spreaders of the deadly coronavirus, sparking an outpouring of criticism.

It all resulted in Evans being dumped by his publisher, with people boycotting brands he was associated with, and Channel 10 axing him from a potential appearance on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! after the savage social media backlash he received.

In a separate post on Instagram this afternoon, Evans appeared to address the controversy, thanking a few companies for standing by him over the last week and “not reacting out of fear, or to allow bullying or intimidation to take you out of your heart space”.

“These are powerful people and companies offering solutions for long term sustainable health,” he said.

“To the others that publicly dumped me, without picking up the phone and calling me to have an adult conversation....I send you LOVE ❤️ and hope you HEAL in the most beautiful ways on your own personal and business journeys.

“Speaking of journeys....we are looking forward to sharing our new health, wellness and cooking retreat with you. We will be opening this early next year and we hope to see you all there for some beautiful, heart opening and loving connections to be made and discovered.”

Evans said the retreat would be “life changing”.

“Until then, thank you to you all for your ongoing support as it means a lot.”

“This is just the beginning of something beautiful.”

Last week Evans uploaded a video to his Facebook where he denied knowing what the neo-Nazi symbol meant in the cartoon he shared, despite a comment on his original post indicating he did.

“Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any more bizarre, the mainstream media have come out and labelled me a racist and a neo-Nazi,” he said.

“The fact that I actually had to Google what neo-Nazi meant is pretty telling. So I just want to tell you this once and one time only, it is completely untrue, unfactual and a load of garbage. Anybody that knows me knows that I stand for long-term, sustainable health for all humanity.”

His publisher Pan Macmillian deserted the chef, announcing last Monday that it was “finalising” its relationship with Evans, saying that it “does not support the recent posts made by Pete Evans”.

“Those views are not our views as a company or the views of our staff. Pan Macmillian is currently finalising its contractual relationship with Pete Evans and as such will not be entering any further publishing agreements moving forward,” the statement read.

“If any retailer wishes to return Pete Evans’ books please contact Pan Macmillian.”

Dymocks Australia promptly followed suit, with the book retailer tweeting that they “are in the process of removing his books from our website and have advised our stores to return their stock as offered by the publisher”.

BIG W has also abandoned Evans in a decision to remove his book titles from the range.

Other brands to part company with Evans included Baccarat, which partnered with Evans on a range of cookware, Readings bookstore and coconut water brand Natural Raw C.