GOSSIP & RUMORS: Dunkin’ ad, slurred speech, ‘hate crime’ recipe

If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Rachael Ray, 57, made a name for herself in the early 2000s when her cookbook, “30 Minute Meals,” led to an appearance on the “Today” show, followed by her first of many contracts with the Food Network.

While hosting “30 Minute Meals” on the channel beginning in 2001, she scored a deal to host her own syndicated daytime TV talk show, “Rachael Ray,” in 2005. The program premiered in September 2006 and aired for 17 seasons before coming to an end in May 2023.

More recently, the celebrity chef has starred in shows like “Meals in Minutes” and “Rachael Ray in Tuscany” while running her multimedia empire and food-focused production company, Free Food Studios.

However, the celebrity chef life hasn’t always been so sweet for Ray, and she came under fire several times between her breakout 24 years ago and her most recent public appearance on Friday’s episode of the “Drew Barrymore Show.”

Here are some of Rachael Ray’s most controversial moments over the years.

She had no formal training before joining the Food Network

Despite being one of culinary TV’s biggest stars, Ray never received any formal training before locking in a spot on the Food Network.

Due to her lack of proper training, many critics argued she was a fraud, far from the prestige of other celebrity chefs like Julia Child, Bobby Flay and Gordon Ramsay.

Martha Stewart, who has managed to build a multibillion-dollar lifestyle brand during her lengthy career, claimed that Ray was “not good enough for me” during a scorching interview with ABC’s “Nightline” in 2009.

“She’s different. She’s more of an entertainer – with her bubbly personality – than she is a teacher, like me,” Stewart, 84, said at the time. “That’s not what she’s professing to be. She’s just a totally different kind of cook than I am.”

Ray, however, took Stewart’s critiques with grace.

“Her skill set is far beyond mine. That’s simply the reality of it,” the former “Rachael Ray” host later told ABC News, per Us Weekly. “That doesn’t mean that what I do isn’t important, too. I don’t consider it needling. I really just think she’s being honest.”

“She does have a better skill set than I do when it comes to producing a beautiful, perfect, high-quality meal,” Ray added. “I’d rather eat Martha’s than mine, too.”

The famed cookbook author had previously discussed her lack of formal training during an interview with the New York Times in 2005.

“I have no formal anything,” she told the outlet. “I’m completely unqualified for any job I’ve ever had.”

Stewart would later apologize during a cooking segment with Emeril Lagasse in 2009. “I truly believe that Rachael has done a terrific job bringing people, many people who would of never have even stepped into the kitchen or made a dish to cook. I applaud Rachael for her enthusiastic approach to cooking,” she said.

She faced backlash for a 2008 Dunkin’ Donuts commercial

A few years after launching “Rachael Ray,” the TV star signed on to appear in commercials for Dunkin’ Donuts.

But the 2008 collaboration quickly backfired, and Ray faced backlash not just for her choice of attire in the now-scrubbed ad, but also for pushing the popular coffee and donut company’s arguably unhealthy products.

At the time, many viewers claimed that the scarf Ray wore in the Dunkin’ commercial looked concerningly similar to a kaffiyeh, a Middle Eastern headdress some critics reportedly associated with terrorism.

“Absolutely no symbolism was intended,” the company said in a statement after pulling the ad, per the Los Angeles Times.

Other critics, including Anthony Bourdain, slammed Ray for pushing Dunkin’ Donuts to children and overweight Americans.

“She’s got a magazine, a TV empire, all these best-selling books – I’m guessing she’s not hurting for money,” Bourdain, who died by suicide in June 2018, said at the time, per Page Six. “She’s hugely influential, particularly with children. And she’s endorsing Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s like endorsing crack for kids.”

“I’m not a very ethical guy. I don’t have a lot of principles,” he continued. “But somehow that seems to me over the line. Juvenile diabetes has exploded. Half of Americans don’t have necks. And she’s up there saying, ‘Eat some f – – king Dunkin’ Donuts. You look great in that swimsuit – eat another doughnut!’ That’s evil.”

Ray’s rep quickly fired back at Bourdain.

“Anyone who knows Rachael and watches her on TV is aware she promotes balance and moderation, instead of living life in extremes,” they responded. “Her work addressing kids’ and families’ nutritional needs speaks for itself, so we respectfully disagree with Anthony’s opinion.”

She was sued for ‘misleading’ dog food marketing

Ten years after partnering with Ainsworth Pet Nutrition to launch a line of pet food called Nutrish in 2008, Ray was sued by a New York dog owner for allegedly misleading customers about the food’s nature.

Markeith Parks, who sued the Food Network starlet and Nutrish for $5 million, claimed that the brand’s Super Premium Dog Food line had trace amounts of the unnatural herbicide glyphosate.

Parks further argued that Nutrish made “false, deceptive, and misleading” claims while promoting the product because “no reasonable consumer would expect this controversial and potentially harmful synthetic chemical to be present in ‘Natural’ dog food.”

Ray’s rep later issued a statement defending Nutrish against Parks’ allegations.

“Rachael herself has always championed the great lengths Ainsworth Pet Nutrition and now the J.M. Smucker Company take to create and provide the highest quality and safest pet food products on the market,” they said at the time.

“This is why she does, and will continue to, feed Nutrish to her own dog Isaboo and her extended pet family,” Ray’s rep added.

While Parks’ case was ultimately dismissed in 2021, a new plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit in March 2025.

Post Consumer Brands, which acquired Ray’s Nutrish dog food brand in Feb. 2023, was accused of “falsely advertising the Rachael Ray pet food products as containing no artificial preservatives when they actually contain artificially produced citric acid.”

That case is reportedly ongoing.

Her red pozole recipe was called a ‘hate crime’

Although Ray became popular for her engaging cooking style, her recipes haven’t always left fans salivating.

Back in 2020, the Free Food Studios founder caused controversy when she shared her red pozole recipe – which included some unusual ingredients like chili beans, honey and beer – during an episode of her daytime talk show.

The clip quickly went viral, and some viewers went on to post a YouTube video to criticize Ray before showing her how to make the traditional Mexican dish the correct way.

“We’re already off to a bad start,” they scoffed. “That’s not pozole!”

“It looks like the soup I make for my dogs with kibble,” the women, who titled their video “Mexican Moms React to Rachael Ray’s Pozole,” added. “I wouldn’t eat that.”

After the critics shared their clip on Instagram, other viewers began to criticize Ray as well.

“She just threw everything in there she thinks is Mexican and called it pozole,” one person commented.

“Every time Rachel Ray makes Mexican food it’s horrendous!” added another. “There’s a video of her making Mexican rice that’s just ridiculous.”

“I’d like to make a citizen’s arrest, please,” shared a third. “This is a hate crime!”

Her crew was left fuming after show went remote during COVID shutdown

Ray’s daytime show became the center of behind-the-scenes controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic, as unionized crew members accused producers of cutting off pay after the program left its Manhattan studio.

When “Rachael Ray” shifted to remote production in 2020, filming from Ray’s upstate New York home, roughly 20 studio crew members reportedly lost their jobs overnight, according to Variety.

Those workers claimed they were initially told they would continue to be paid through the end of the season, but those payments allegedly stopped once in-person production was canceled.

The crew’s union pushed back against the show’s producers, arguing that the workers were owed compensation for the in-studio days that had already been scheduled before the shutdown.

But the production’s refusal to pay, per reports, left some workers short on the union hours required to maintain their health benefits.

Meanwhile, the backlash grew louder as Ray made headlines for donating millions to pandemic relief efforts, a move that critics said clashed with the treatment of her own staff.

Producers for “Rachael Ray” denied the allegations, calling reports “inaccurate” and maintaining that they continued to pay staff and contribute to healthcare plans through the fall of 2020.

Ray herself addressed the accusations in a lengthy Instagram Story at the time.

“There’s some news in the media today that is disturbing to me, and I do not think it is accurate,” she wrote, per Us Weekly. “My partners at CBS Television Distribution are currently in active conversation about how to provide for employees affected by our show’s format change after November 1st.”

“It has been my utmost priority that we keep the full contribution to their healthcare plan during this pandemic,” she continued. “I care about my colleagues as family, and as we approach the holidays, we want to keep everyone safe. While everyone is continuing to be paid through October, we will continue to work this out.”

The dispute was reportedly sent to arbitration, although it’s unclear how it was ultimately resolved.

“Rachael Ray,” meanwhile, was canceled in 2023 after 17 seasons.

Fans voiced concerns over her slurred speech in videos

Ray raised eyebrows after she appeared to slur her words in several videos shared online in 2024.

Viewers first noticed the change during clips posted to Instagram, including a Mother’s Day cooking segment and a tribute to Tony Bennett, prompting speculation about her health.

Some followers commented that one side of her mouth seemed lower than the other, while others worried she might have suffered a medical episode.

“Rachael [we’re] worried about you!” one fan wrote in the comments of a clip.

“Rachael, are you okay?” asked another. “You don’t look well.”

A different person said Ray looked “sick” in the concerning video.

The TV host later addressed the rumors on her “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” podcast in October 2024, revealing that she had suffered “a couple of bad falls” in recent months that limited her physical activity.

Ray didn’t specify whether the injuries were linked to her speech changes, but she said she had been focusing on her recovery.