It was 2011. The world was still processing the loss of a generational talent. Amy Winehouse had passed away in July, leaving a void in the music industry that hasn’t really been filled since. Then, a few months later, a photo hit the internet that turned a private Halloween party into a PR nightmare.
You might have heard about the Amy Winehouse meat platter.
Honestly, it sounds like some weird urban legend or a clickbait headline from a trashy tabloid. But it was very real. And 15 years later, it remains one of the most cited examples of "too soon" in celebrity culture.
The party that went viral for the wrong reasons
Neil Patrick Harris is usually the guy everyone loves. He’s the "Legendary" Barney Stinson. He hosts the Tonys. He’s generally considered a "class act." But in October 2011, he and his husband, David Burtka, hosted a Halloween party that would haunt their reputations for over a decade.
Among the various decorations and high-end catering, there was a buffet table. On that table sat a dish that wasn't just in bad taste—it was gruesome.
It was a meat platter. But it wasn't just a tray of cold cuts. It was designed to look like a decaying corpse. Specifically, the "Corpse of Amy Winehouse."
A guest at the party, Justin Mikita (husband of Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson), snapped a photo of it and posted it to Twitter. He deleted it quickly, but the internet doesn't forget. The image showed a tray of ribs, pulled pork, and chicken sausage arranged to resemble a body on an autopsy table. To make it unmistakable, it featured a miniature sign and a very distinct black beehive hairdo.
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Why it hit so hard
Amy Winehouse didn't just die. She struggled.
Her battle with addiction and bulimia was played out in front of paparazzi every single day. Her brother, Alex Winehouse, has spoken extensively about how her eating disorder was what truly weakened her, making her body unable to handle the years of substance abuse. When she died of alcohol poisoning at 27, it was a tragedy, not a punchline.
So, seeing her "corpse" served up as a snack just three months after her funeral? It didn't sit well.
People were furious. It wasn't just "dark humor." It felt like a direct mockery of a woman who had been bullied by the media until the day she died. The platter included "beef ribs" positioned where her ribcage would be, a nod to her famously thin frame that the press had spent years scrutinizing.
The ingredients of a scandal
The platter wasn't just a visual gag; it had a literal menu. According to the sign placed next to the "body," the Amy Winehouse meat platter consisted of:
- Beef ribs
- Pulled pork
- Chicken sausage in a spicy BBQ sauce
It’s the kind of thing that makes you wonder what the thought process was. How many people saw that in the kitchen and thought, "Yeah, this is a great idea for the appetizer table"?
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The apology that took eleven years
For a long time, the story just... floated around. It would resurface every few years on Reddit or Twitter, usually followed by a wave of "Wait, NPH actually did that?"
It wasn't until May 2022 that Neil Patrick Harris issued a formal apology. The photo had resurfaced again, and in the "cancel culture" era of the 2020s, it gained more traction than it ever had in 2011.
He told Entertainment Weekly that the photo was "regrettable then, and it remains regrettable now." He acknowledged Amy as a "once-in-a-generation talent" and expressed remorse for any hurt the image caused.
Was it enough? For some fans, sure. For others, it was a reminder of how cruelly Amy was treated even in death.
What we get wrong about Amy Winehouse and food
The irony of the Amy Winehouse meat platter is that Amy actually loved food.
If you look past the "trainwreck" narrative the media loved to push, you find a girl who was a total foodie. She grew up in a Jewish household where cooking was a way of showing love. She didn't just eat; she cooked for the people she cared about.
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- Caribbean Soul Food: During her time in St. Lucia, she fell in love with jerk chicken and rice and peas. She even tried to convince a local chef to move back to London with her.
- Traditional Favorites: She was known to smash a KFC or a McDonald’s when she was in the mood, but she also loved salt beef, meatballs, and her grandmother’s recipes.
- The "Rickstasy": This was her signature drink. Three parts vodka, one part Southern Comfort, one part banana liqueur, and one part Baileys. It sounds chaotic because it was.
She wasn't a "corpse" to be joked about; she was a person who used food to connect with her roots. Her struggle with bulimia made her relationship with eating complicated, which makes the Halloween joke even more cutting.
The legacy of the "Corpse" platter
This incident is now taught in PR classes as a "what not to do." It's a prime example of how the line between "edgy" and "offensive" can shift overnight. In 2011, the backlash was loud but contained to certain corners of the internet. By 2026 standards, it's considered an unthinkable lapse in judgment.
It also highlights the "Amy Winehouse effect"—the way we turn celebrity tragedy into a consumable product. Whether it's a meat platter at a party or a sensationalized biopic, there's a constant tension between honoring her talent and exploiting her pain.
What to do with this information
If you’re a fan of Amy Winehouse or just interested in celebrity history, use this story as a lens to look at how we treat public figures today.
- Revisit the music, not the tragedy. Instead of scrolling through old tabloid photos, go back to Frank. It's a jazz masterpiece that often gets overshadowed by the drama of Back to Black.
- Support the Amy Winehouse Foundation. They do incredible work with young people struggling with addiction and eating disorders. It's the best way to turn a negative legacy into something positive.
- Think before you post. The Amy Winehouse meat platter went viral because a guest thought it was "cool" enough to share. In the age of instant sharing, consider if what you’re posting contributes to a culture of cruelty.
Amy deserved better than a tray of BBQ ribs and a beehive wig. She deserved the health and happiness she was "so, so close" to achieving, according to her friends. The best way to honor her isn't through jokes, but by remembering the girl who loved spicy hot sauce, Jewish soul food, and singing the blues better than anyone else.