Salt Bae’s Miami Restaurant Faces Backlash

Venezuelans in Miami, many of whom are in the culinary community, are up in arms after restaurant owner and Instagram star Nusret Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae, served Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores at his Istanbul eatery.

The chef posted a now deleted video of him preparing and serving a giant slab of meat to Maduro while at the same time, millions of Venezuelans back in his country are starving because of Venezuela’s crippled economy.

An immediate backlash followed Salt Bae’s Miami restaurant, Nusr-Et, in Brickell.

Miami, a city populated by many Venezuelans who have family suffering back home, are disgusted that people back home were dying while their leader enjoys a hearty meal. They condemned the flamboyant Salt Bae for happily serving a dictator.

People have even left one-star reviews on TripAdvisor and Google of restaurants run by the viral chef in an effort to to punish him.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has been one of the most vocal critics of Gokce, tweeting out, “This guy @nusr_ett who admires dictator @NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, #Miami.”

“This is someone who is celebrating a criminal. Nicolás Maduro is systematically starving the people of Venezuela,” Rubio told the Miami Herald.

By: Maytinee Kramer