Update (October 26, 8 a.m.): More than 12 hours after this story was published, Flay gave a statement to People in which he confirmed the t-shirt incident but characterized it as a joke. He also indicated that he is willing to return to *Iron Chef “whenever my schedule allows.” His full statement:

“This past summer when I was in production on Iron Chef Showdown, I wore a T-shirt to have a little fun during my last battle this season. In hindsight, it was probably not the best decision because it’s just creating confusion. Food Network has been part of my family for over 20 years and will absolutely continue to be, and though there is a talented bench of Iron Chefs to tap, if I were asked, I’d be excited to return to Kitchen Stadium, whenever my schedule allows.”

Scripps, Flay, and Food Network have not yet responded to requests for further comment. But this carefully crafted statement speaks volumes—whether it was issued under pressure from the network, because of a deal that was struck after the incident, or another reason entirely.

The original story continues below.

There was stunned silence on set at a taping of Iron Chef Showdown this past summer in Southern California, when Bobby Flay tore off his apron mid-battle to reveal a T-shirt that read: “THIS IS MY LAST IRON CHEF BATTLE EVER.”

Iron Chef is a live cooking competition, so the cameras kept rolling. But when the tape stopped, producers rushed in. “Bobby,” they said, according to a source close to the production, “we’re not going to be able to cut around that.”

“I know,” Flay responded. “That’s the point.”

Flay is known for choosing his moves carefully, and he usually means what he says. Neither he nor producers at Triage Entertainment, the company that makes Iron Chef Showdown, responded to repeated requests for comment about the T-shirt incident. A spokesman for Food Network—where the show airs—would neither confirm nor deny that the incident had even occurred.

But Flay’s move, confirmed by two on-set sources, reveals a larger set of tensions. His apparent lack of interest in remaining part of Iron Chef, a show in which Flay has appeared on and off for 17 years, comes at a momentous time for Food Network’s majority owner, Scripps Networks—which Discovery Communications is trying to buy for $14.6 billion in a deal that could close in early 2018.

I spoke to several people associated with the show and the network, none of whom could confirm Flay’s future plans. They verified only his intention to reveal a shirt—and a message—that he knew couldn’t be cut in post.

Adding fuel to the fire, when the Food Network universe converged in New York on a mid-October weekend for the annual New York City Wine and Food Festival, Flay did not appear—not even at the “Rooftop Iron Chef Showdown” Saturday night. He did have time to leave a New York restaurant that Sunday with Scarlett Johansson, though.

Losing control over one of its marquee stars is apparently not something Scripps wants to acknowledge. Following the T-shirt incident, Triage sent a recording to Scripps in Knoxville, Tennessee. According to another well-placed source affiliated with the production, top executives met and came to a decision: the shirt would be blurred out. If any announcement were to be made about Flay’s Iron Chef future, it wouldn’t look like this.

Another person with direct knowledge of the situation, who was on set that day, says there is ongoing debate about whether the blurring will happen, or if another solution will be found. “That entire thing is in flux right now,” this person said. “Nothing has been decided or settled.” Also in flux: the premiere date of Iron Chef Showdown, which features restaurateur John Besh as a judge. The show was originally scheduled to bow November 8, but on October 21, the New Orleans Times-Picayune published a long investigation into sexual harassment allegations involving Besh.