A Raleigh, North Carolina, chef who rose to prominence after attempting to have a white woman “cancelled” for “culturally appropriating” Japanese cuisine is now facing charges of domestic violence. Eric Rivera, who waged a digital war against an Aussie sushi restauranteur he labeled a “colonizer,” has been arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence, assault on a female, and assault by strangulation.
Rivera’s legal troubles come on the heels of his history of online controversies. Most notably, he sparked outrage in October of 2023 when he targeted an Australian-owned sushi startup in New York City. In a lengthy X tirade, Rivera labelled Sushi Counter’s owner, Alex, a “colonizer” for preparing Japanese-inspired food as a white woman.
Rivera’s campaign against Alex ignited a firestorm of negativity against the establishment, and her restaurant was briefly “review bombed” on Google as social justice warriors flocked to give the Sushi Counter a 1-star review.
Inspired by Rivera, one reviewer, who left the restaurant a negative review, wrote: “Enough of the gentrification! The last thing anyone needs are blonde hair, Australian white women appropriating Japanese cuisine … We’re sick of the disrespect inflicted upon our cultures by white people, enough is enough.”
Many other negative reviews described the food at Sushi Counter as “gentrified,” with some pointing out that because a white woman owns the restaurant, it cannot be considered “authentic” Japanese cuisine.
“There are plenty of good AUTHENTIC sushi spots in this city and prices aren’t crazy,” said one reviewer. “I suggest going to one of those. This is a colonizer sushi spot ran by a woman who thinks she can do better than actual Japanese people.”
But the tables quickly turned against Rivera after it was learned that he was preparing Japanese food as a Puerto Rican man at his Japanese-inspired bar.
Sharing screenshots of Rivera’s comments, Anna Slatz, co-founder of independent news outlet Reduxx, said: “This guy launched an all-out hate campaign against a woman for opening an ‘Australian sushi counter’ to the point that she had to delete all of her TikTok videos and got review bombed on Google for being a ‘colonizer.’ Meanwhile he’s opening a ‘Puerto Rican izakaya.’”
Rivera soon after deleted his thread targeting Alex and her Sushi Counter, and began a mass blocking spree against those calling him out for his hypocrisy.
Now, Rivera is back in the hot seat, but this time for far more serious offenses.
On August 17, Rivera was detained on charges of misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, assault on a female, and assault by strangulation. He was released from the Wake County Detention Center on August 20 after paying a bond of $7,000.
While the circumstances of the alleged assault are not currently known and the victim has not been named, a Redditor claiming to be a former employee of Rivera’s offered his insight into the controversial chef.
“Eric’s a total dirt bag who abused his first wife, who also left him, too,” user Mammoth-Dot-7803 wrote. “I worked with him for a short stint and he is truly the only person I’ve ever known that I have hoped bad things happened to.”
Wake County Police are continuing their investigation into Rivera, and are not releasing additional details at this time.
