Dublin chef faces criticism for tweeting 'severed' head of food critic

Oliver Dunne's Dublin restaurant, The Cleaver East. (The Cleaver East/ Facebook)

While the media may be one thing everybody loves to hate, Michelin-award winning chef, Oliver Dunne, might have taken it a step too far.

The Dublin-based chef caused some controversy last week after tweeting an image of himself holding the “severed” head of a well-known U.K. food critic.

The image, modeled after promotional material for Dunne's restaurant The Cleaver East, showed Dunne with the disembodied head of restaurant critic Lucinda O'Sullivan.

Dunne shared the photoshopped image with his nearly 3,000 followers, with the caption: “Lol, look what I got in the post!”

According the Irish Independent, the tweet was in response to critical review O'Sullivan wrote for the Sunday Independent with headline “Chop Chop” in the newspaper's “Life Magazine.”

The day after the article was published, Dunne wrote a scathing blog about the review, calling it "completely inaccurate and unacceptable."

When contacted by the Irish Independent to explain his tweet and blog post, Dunne said, "I stand by my word…I’ve no problem with people coming through my door and critiquing the restaurant. That’s the nature of the beast. I’ve been at this 20 years I know that."

Nonethelesss, Dunne deleted the image from his Twitter page soon after the paper questioned him.

Online, the chef received strong criticism for posting the photo. His followers described the act as “tasteless” and “unnecessary."

“I have never met that guy Oliver Dunne, but I don’t think there is any need to post that pic [sic],” wrote one Twitter user.

Dunne has since told the Independent that he is sorry for posting the photograph and for causing offense.

“If Lucinda wants an apology,” Dunne said. “I would be happy to.”