On Sept. 1, 2021, Josh quote-tweeted an announcement about the new Texas abortion law, or Senate Bill 8. As NPR summarizes, the law bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Senate Bill 8 also allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone who helps the abortion-seeker achieve their goal, from Uber drivers to people providing financial assistance. The bill also says private citizens who create suits do not need any connection to those they are suing.
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Josh wrote, “*After six weeks. You can still get [an abortion] for six weeks. Calm down, broads. You still have six weeks to decide your life is more important than anyone else’s.” He then followed up this initial tweet with a more crass addition: “And spare me the ‘many women don’t know they’re pregnant for 6 weeks.’ Whores. Only whores wouldn’t know for six weeks.”
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His tirade sparked ire in Twitter users everywhere, many of whom attempted to explain that many women don’t even know they are pregnant until after six weeks due to one reason or another. Many people immediately began to call for his firing from the Food Network television show he hosted, unaware that the show had been canceled in 2017 after roughly two seasons.
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Josh’s recent incendiary commentary isn’t the first time he’s been publicly called out for his tweets. Deadline reports that in 2018, the ex-Ginormous Foods host “stirred up a hornet’s nest of comments on Twitter with some insulting remarks that took aim at Muslims, blacks, Jews, and others in a series of random riffs and off-the-wall comments.” His show was reportedly cut short after this first outburst.