Gordon Ramsay hits back at criticism after making 500 staff redundant amid coronavirus crisis

‘Cheap shots again and again from a bitter egotistical critic,’ British chef tweets

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Gordon Ramsay has hit back at criticism of his decision to make redundancies during the coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday, restaurant critic Marina O’Loughlin, tweeted about reports the British chef had made more than 500 members of staff redundant after having to temporarily shut down his string of restaurants.

“Yet again, a day when multi-millionaires won’t put hands in pockets while the little guys doing everything they can for their staff,” she tweeted before later clarifying in a subsequent tweet: “And yes, I do mean Ramsay”.

Ramsay, who is reportedly worth £48 million, replied: “You’ve clearly have never run a business, and yet across these very difficult times for all, you hide behind your pathetic tweets, get a grip will you!!!

“Cheap shots again and again from a bitter egotistical critic yawn! [sic]”

Ramsay continued: “You complain about food for a living!

“Closed restaurants with your poison pen because they didn’t kiss your a***, ever thought about giving back across these difficult times???? I’ve done nothing BUT put my hands in my pockets for years!”

O’Loughlin retweeted Ramsay’s response, writing: “Marvellous”.

The restaurant critic’s tweet garnered plenty of support from other critics and members of the food industry, including Nigella Lawson, who replied with a series of heart emojis.

In another reply to Ramsay, O’Loughlin shared a link to the Wim Hof Method website, which details a famous practice created by the Dutch athlete Wim Hof that sees people spend prolonged periods of time in freezing temperatures. It claims to result in various mental and physical health benefits.