SEA CLIFF, N.Y.—A homeless man was charged with participating in an anti-gay attack on a former “Top Chef” reality show contestant outside a bar, police said.

Matthew W. Walli was in a group of about 12 people involved in a confrontation with chef Josie Smith-Malave, who is a lesbian, and three other women who had just been thrown out of the bar over Labor Day weekend, Nassau County police said Sept. 13.

Walli’s group made derogatory statements about the women’s perceived sexual orientation, spat on them and hit them, police said. Walli stole a video camera from one of the women, causing her to fall and hurt her knee, they said.

Walli, 20, was charged with robbery as a bias crime, which is punishable by as many as 15 years in prison upon conviction, police said.

Smith-Malave, a 32-year-old Miami native, is a former sous chef for the Marlow and Sons restaurant in Brooklyn. She has played for the New York Sharks of the Independent Women’s Football League.