Twitter has unearthed a 2010 video of Gordon Ramsay that is making people think twice about the celebrity chef’s behaviour. On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ramsey joined actress Sofia Vergara on the couch and, in an edited compilation posted by to Twitter by Jason Bolaños, can be seen interrupting Vergara to make sexual comments and at one point touching her before being asked to stop.
In one exchange, Vergara apologises for screaming in an earlier segment, promising she “never screamed like that in real life,” prompting Ramsay to ask:
“Only in the bedroom?”
The comment elicits gasps from the audience, and it’s not the only time he puts Vergara in an uncomfortable position. In reference to a photo of her eating pizza, Ramsay remarks, “You seem like you’re enjoying that ― you have the whole wedge in your mouth at one time?”
Later, after another jab, she pretends to smack him, prompting him to present his rear end to be spanked.
Perhaps one of the most controversial moments happens shortly after, when Gordon lightly smacks Vergara’s thigh with the back of his hand, prompting her to cry, “No! No touching!”
Vergara gamely plays along in the full clip with most of Ramsay’s interruptions, but she was also put in the difficult position of navigating inappropriate comments while on camera in front of an audience. While the banter between the two stars may have been just that, their exchange has soured almost ten years later after the #MeToo movement revealed the ways women have been disrespected and sexualised in the entertainment industry — and especially how they’ve had to put up with it with a smile on their faces or risk losing their careers.
While a rep for Ramsay didn’t immediately respond to Refinery29’s request for comment, this wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to apologise for inappropriate behaviour towards women. A year prior to his interview with Vergara, he insulted Australia TV reporter Tracy Grimshaw when he showed a food fair audience a photo of a naked woman with a pig’s face and multiple breasts and said that it was a picture of Grimshaw. He later apologised in a statement and to Grimshaw personally.
As for Vergara’s thoughts on the resurfaced video, Refinery29 has reached out to her reps for comment.