Jamie Oliver’s Kids’s Ebook Criticized by Indigenous Australians

Jamie Oliver has apologized after his youngsters’s guide was pulled from cabinets following criticism from Indigenous Australians.

The celeb chef, 49, stated he was “devastated to have prompted offense” after it was revealed that writer Penguin Random Home U.Okay. can be withdrawing Billy and the Epic Escape following its preliminary launch again in Could, per NBC Information.

Per the BBC, the guide — which is a sequel to Oliver’s 2023 launch, Billy and the Large Journey — “options an Aboriginal lady with mystical powers dwelling in foster care who’s kidnapped from her dwelling in central Australia.” 

The Nationwide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Training Company (NATSIEC) criticized the discharge, claiming it “dangerously trivializes the continuing trauma related to Australia’s violent historical past of kid removing,” per a press release obtained by NBC Information.

For years within the nation, youngsters of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent had been faraway from their households by authorities companies and church missions primarily based on assimilation insurance policies. These youngsters had been often known as the Stolen Generations.

Oliver added in his personal assertion, per NBC Information: “I’m devastated to have prompted offense and apologize wholeheartedly.”

“It was by no means my intention to misread this deeply painful problem. Along with my publishers we now have determined to withdraw the guide from sale,” he continued.

In keeping with the Related Press, Indigenous campaigners thought they need to have been consulted earlier than the guide was revealed.

“It’s clear that our publishing requirements fell brief on this event, and we should study from that and take decisive motion,” Penguin Random Home U.Okay. stated, per the information company. 

“With that in thoughts, we now have agreed with our creator, Jamie Oliver, that we are going to be withdrawing the guide from sale,” the corporate added.

The BBC reported that Oliver had requested Indigenous Australians be consulted by the writer earlier than the guide’s launch, however an “editorial perception” bought in the way in which.

NATSIEC’s Sharon Davis additionally commented on the character within the guide with the ability to talk with animals and crops and browse minds as a result of “that’s the Indigenous method,” the outlet said. Davis insisted the character’s description reduces “advanced and numerous perception methods” to “magic,” the BBC reported.

“This trivialization is each culturally insensitive and dangerous,” the group stated, per NBC Information.

By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free each day e-newsletter to remain up-to-date on the very best of what PEOPLE has to supply​​, from celeb information to forcing human curiosity tales.

Davis additionally stated that the actual fact the character makes use of vocabulary from the Gamilaraay folks of New South Wales and Queensland confirmed “full disregard for the huge variations amongst First Nations languages, cultures, and practices,” per the BBC.

Penguin Random Home U.Okay., a rep for Oliver and NATSIEC did not instantly reply when contacted by PEOPLE.