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Gregg Wallace has come under fire after appearing to link claims of past misconduct to his recent autism diagnosis, sparking an angry response from charities, experts, and members of the autistic community.
The former MasterChef presenter, 59, issued an apology this week on social media, acknowledging his use of “inappropriate humour and language” during his years on the show. However, his decision to connect his behaviour to autism left many feeling he was perpetuating damaging stereotypes about neurodivergent people.
In his post, Wallace wrote that his autism had been “suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef,” but he claimed nothing was done to address or support his needs.
He continued: “Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over 20 years. That failure is now being quietly buried.”
Wallace’s comments did little to quiet criticism about his conduct, and instead drew backlash from prominent voices in the autism community, who warned his words risked spreading false and harmful ideas about autistic people.
Oxford University research psychologist Dr Lucy Foulkes was among those to publicly challenge his statement. Speaking out, she said: “Sexually inappropriate comments are not a symptom of autism. Difficulties and differences in social interactions and communication are a key feature of autism, but it’s things like having difficulties with the typical turn-taking of conversation, or not feeling comfortable making neurotypical amounts of eye contact, or having difficulties deciphering hidden and implied meaning from people’s explicit words. Nothing about autism or any neurodivergence explains why a man would make sexually inappropriate comments.”
Jessie Hewitson, Director of the neurodivergence charity NeuroUniverse, added: “People with autism have been stereotyped since the dawn of time, and to see it happen again in this way is disheartening. Remarks like this risk sending the false message that autistic people cannot take personal responsibility for their actions, which is both wrong and damaging.”
Wallace, who left MasterChef last year after nearly two decades, has not yet issued a further comment on the backlash. He first revealed his autism diagnosis in 2023, saying at the time that it explained his preference for routine and his struggles to pick up on social cues.
But advocates stress that conflating these traits with inappropriate workplace behaviour risks further stigmatizing a group already fighting against misconceptions and prejudice.
One commenter on social media summed up the sentiment shared by many: “Being autistic doesn’t make you sexist or inappropriate. Please don’t use us as an excuse.”
As debate around his statement continues, Wallace’s future projects remain unclear. What is certain, however, is that the controversy has sparked an important discussion about what autism is, and what it absolutely is not.
