Journalist Johann Hari and British publisher Bloomsbury have issued apologies to British food critic Jay Rayner after Hari's new book, "The Magic Pill," falsely claimed Rayner had taken the weight loss drug Ozempic.
Hari, who began taking Ozempic in January 2023, wrote in his book that Rayner, a Master Chef UK judge, had also used the drug and experienced diminished enjoyment in food. Rayner refuted these claims on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), labeling them "utter b**" and criticizing Bloomsbury for inadequate fact-checking.
In response, Bloomsbury apologized, acknowledging a fact-checking process was in place and attributing the error to a misattribution of an article. Hari also apologized, admitting confusion between Rayner’s work and an article by Layla Latif in The Guardian.
Hari’s book discusses weight loss drugs, his personal experience with Ozempic, and society's relationship with food. This incident follows an earlier controversy in 2011 when Hari apologized for journalistic misconduct, including editing interview scripts and Wikipedia entries, leading to a leave of absence from "The Independent."