“The Great British Bakeoff” brands itself as the “ultimate baking battle,” where “baking fans compete to be crowned the UK’s Best Amateur Baker.”
Recently, the show has been scrutinized by viewers after the show aired “Mexican Week,” filled with ponchos, sombreros, poorly executed Mexican accents and untasteful jokes.
All it takes is one look at the quote tweets on “The Great British Bakeoff’s” recent tweets to see how viewers feel about “Mexican Week.”
“Mexico Week on the Great British Bake-off is concretely reminding me of how flat and static white people view food from Latin American countries,” wrote journalist Megan Taros in a tweet. “Not only have they oversimplified Mexican food, but they’ve applied that revisionist view of it to all Latin American countries.”
One tweet went viral that pictured two hosts, Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding, in stereotypical Mexican apparel.
Fielding is quoted in the post saying “I don’t feel like we should make Mexican Jokes because people will get upset,” and Lucas replies with, “What, not even Juan?”
Viewers found this supposed joke to be offensive and took to social media to express their frustration.
“Believe it or not, it is in fact possible to celebrate Mexican culture without donning a poncho and sombrero. Actually, its strongly preferred that you don’t,” one viewer tweeted.
While viewers are calling out the hosts’ untasteful joke, neither has yet to acknowledge the situation. With all of the social media buzz, the show may just have to come out with an apology.