Just hours after Paula Deen abruptly pulled out of a live Today Show appearance on Friday (claiming “exhaustion”), she was flat-out fired from the Food Network. This is starting to get epic! A spokesperson for the Food Network released a statement Friday: “Food Network will not renew Paula Deen’s contract when it expires at the end of this month.” I mean… I guess that was the obvious choice, to fire her and cut their ties completely. While the racist stuff offends me, I’m also kind of offended by Paula’s bad crisis management. She’s an empire (a butter-soaked empire) and you would expect her to get better advice on how to conduct herself. Canceling the interview was a mistake. Putting yourself in a position to be abruptly fired was a mistake. And then to top it all off, Paula issued a statement about getting fired!
Embattled celebrity cook Paula Deen issued a statement thanking the Food Network for 11 “great years” less than 24 hours after the cable channel announced it was dropping its longtime star following her admission that she used a racial slur in the past.
“I have had the pleasure of being allowed into so many homes across the country and meeting people who have shared with me the most touching and personal stories,” Deen, 66, said in a statement released to CNN Friday night. “This would not have been possible without the Food Network. Thank you again. Love and best dishes to all of ya’ll.”
The Food Network announced on Friday that it would not renew Deen’s contract when it expires at the end of the month. The announcement comes just days after news that Deen admitted in a May deposition to using the N-word several times in her past.
For more than a decade, Deen shined as one of the biggest stars of the Food Network and earned legions of fans – and some critics – for her brand of hearty Southern cooking.
PEOPLE has learned that the Food Network’s move will not affect the shows starring Deen’s sons, Not My Mama’s Meals with Bobby Deen on the Cooking Channel andHome for Dinner with Jamie Deen on Food Network.
On Friday, Jamie Deen Tweeted a message acknowledged the controversy without apologizing for his mom. “A heartfelt thank y’all to those who have sent love and support for mom and our family. #pray.”
Paula’s troubles began earlier this week after comments she made in a sworn deposition May 17th were filed in U.S. District Court on Monday. The deposition was part of a lawsuit filed by Lisa Jackson, a former manager of Uncle Bubba’s Seafood and Oyster House, claiming she was sexually harassed and worked in a hostile environment filled with racial slurs and innuendo in the restaurant owned by Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers.
When a lawyer for Jackson asked Deen whether she even used the N-word, she replied, “Yes, of course,” but then added, “It’s been a very long time.”
The controversy gained steam later this week when she canceled a planned Today show interview with Matt Lauer scheduled for Friday. However, later in the day she issued two video apologies begging for forgiveness.
“Inappropriate, hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners – I beg for your forgiveness. Please forgive me for the mistakes that I’ve made.”
Yes, the video apology was another mistake, because it happened in a media vacuum AND because Paula couldn’t even get it together enough to release a video correctly the first time. She issued one poorly-edited video, then pulled it, then she released another, longer video. Here it is:
The content of this video is better than the first one, but the production value seems haphazard and slap-dash, like she’s sitting in her manager’s office and he’s coaching her from behind the camera. And Paula’s bad crisis management will continue if she thinks this is end, that she can just amputate the cooking-show part of her empire and the rest of her empire will hum along. True, her restaurants will probably continue to make money, but what about her endorsement deals? She’s going to have to actually do interviews and speak to an actual journalist. Not Matt Lauer. Maybe Al Roker. Definitely Gayle King at CBS. Maybe do a sit-down with Oprah on OWN too. That’s the only way to get through this with part of empire intact – she’s going to have to do press, and she’s going to have to do an apology tour. And she’s going to have to sound sincere in every interview. (Also: it would be smart to go ahead and settle that civil case and tie it up with a nondisclosure agreement.)
Photos courtesy of WENN.
There are literally endless pictures of Paula Deen looking terrifying. Like a robot programmed to eat dreams.
Haha!!! Must destroy all of ya’ll…
Her blindingly white shark teeth are made of nightmares
Oompa Loompa Doopity Do shoulda let the PR people do their jobs.
I suspect this is a case of ‘we’ll address this MY way!’ Not surprising it’s full of fail. Half of why she’s in this mess is that she doesn’t know how to act like she’s got any sense.
Next she’ll send a basket of racist muffins to people with ‘thanks for your forgiveness’ notes.
I am appalled by the name of that cookbook. Paula Dean’s “New Testament”. Seems pretty pretentious to me…
Her next book will be part of the “damage control”…….”Paula Deen, Colored Folks Are Totally Fine”.
Haha.
Have you read about her fans’ comments on TFN’d Facebook page? Disgusting. I hope she and her followers disappear for good.
Boy you weren’t kidding. I hopped over there to look and it’s a bunch of mean and ignorant comments. Too bad people consistently misunderstand the concept “freedom of speech”. Guess they missed American Civics in school.
I figured someone somewhere was crying freedom of speech. It’s amazing how so many don’t understand that.
I think Paula should just go away. What’s she going to say on an apology interview that can make any difference? Her true colors have been shown.
They always ignore the responsibility that comes with that freedom.
The harder they yell, the shallower the premise.
‘I know my rights!’
– You sure don’t
‘I take CARE of my kids!’
– How old are they, then?
‘All language should be equal, they’re just words.’
-Alright. Your mama. Yeah, I thought so.
Unfortunately, I think despite the scandal she would still have followers that have the same mindset with her. She is sorry she got caught, but that’s about it—which is why her crisis management is still crappy!
Oh yes. I particularly liked the ones dragging President Obama into it. And by “liked”, I mean “despaired for humanity.”
I’m sure President Obama is saying, “I’m over here in Europe. How did I get dragged into this s***?”
dont you know? everything related to black people is a conspiracy headed by obama, duhh!
the sad thing is my family totally thinks this way
Oh sweetness…. No need for ANY OF YOU to worry about Paula. She will be back bigger, better, and making more millions…
…millions of calories, maybe.
No one is “worrying” about her, honey. She has enough money.
Her career is over. Ignorant racists can support her all they want but most folks know better.
Sure – maybe Deen can still make some money…on the Rush Limbaugh channel.
Face it: she’s wandered into Crazy Mel Gibson Land with this debacle. Unrepentant racism and misogyny are much harder to come back from than, say, lying about your career background (Robert Irvine), insider trading (Martha Stewart), or blowing off kids with cancer (Ina Garten). What they did was highly questionable, but not unforgivable.
Deen, however, has put herself on par with Gibson. Can’t say I’m surprised, or sorry.
Oh please! This entire thing has been so blown out of proportion… I am sure YOU have NEVER used a racial slur in your lifetime! LMAO!
.
Judge not, lest ye be judge ….
@Eli
The standard that you walk past is the standard you accept.
I f#*cked up ya’ll!
Hahaha yeah, she probably should have ended it with that. She should really just disappear. I don’t know if anything she does to manage the crisis will really help anyway.
Oh, I can’t wait to see what Tony Bourdain has to say about all this
*rubs hands together*
I’m going to guess he won’t say anything. Kicking her when she’s down (although she of course brought it on herself) doesn’t seem like his style.
Anthony Bourdain called her out big time on Twitter awhile back when it was revealed that she had Type 2 Diabetes for years and kept it quiet. She continued pushing her ‘butter, butter, butter’ style of cooking and then announced she would be a spokesperson for a Diabetes drug.
I never watched her shows but she lost me on that one. I cringe when I see her cookware for sale in the stores.
Butter is not a problem. It’s the sugar and carbs that diabetics need to watch closely. That we ALL need to watch closely.
Sugar doesn’t cause diabetes, though. The biggest reason for the rise in Type II diabetes is obesity. There is usually a genetic component (to both obesity and diabetes), but a butter-laden or high fat diet will make a person gain weight as easily as a high sugar one. But not every heavy person gets diabetes, either.
I remember feeling kind of bad for her when Bourdain went on his rant. I mean, if he comes down with cancer or another disease from his habits, I’m not going to get angry with him for his diet or his other habits on display during his show. However, her secrecy about it and the deal she made with the pharmaceutical co. were sleasy moves.
I bet he won’t bring it up, but I also bet that someone will ask him about it, given his past indictments of her & her “brand”
@mercyme, I diet high in good fats will not make one obese, nor will it cause heart disease. It’s when you combine unhealthy fats and sugars (excess carbs) that you run into trouble. I know that has not been the traditional take on nutrition, but there is no link between (for instance) dietary cholesterol and heart disease. People today are obese because 1. They eat too much. 2. They eat a grain/sugar/poly unsaturated fat based diet IMO.
She’s a racist and she’s stupid.
Goodbye. Go away.
This.
I second this notion.
bloop!
and arrogant or she would have fixed it
Looks like even butter can’t grease the wheel of this rickety empire. Ouch. Seriously, where did she find her PR and legal teams? Please tell me she didn’t just hire people she knew from a southern old boys network?
I seriously believe she does not think she did anything wrong and cannot believe that all this is pouring down on her just for saying the N word and for wanting to dress her black workers as slaves…she has a look on her face that says “what did I do, doesn’t everyone do that y’all”
One of my southern friends posted some ridiculous $hit about how all Southerners use the N word so we should stop making a big deal about this. THAT is the problem IMHO – that they think that because “errbody” doing it we should overlook blatant racism. I’m a minority so that really changed my view of her 🙁
I currently live in the South. My grandparents lived in Virginia, and I spent a lot of time there. NEVER did I hear ANYONE say the n-word there. Nor do I ever hear it here. I am very sure there are people who use it both in Virginia and where I live now, but they do not use it in public, and they are not the type of people my family ever associated with.
Some people have everything and it’s still not enough. One group has been so powerful for so long that it’s taken as normal and any attempt to even the score is taken as downright sinister. Equality is anarchy.
Are people supposed just roll over and do as you see fit so you can have your stupid fun at the expense of the dignity of SO many people? Screw you.
How many times have you heard someone say ‘get over it’ when the topic of race and racial discrimination is broached? We’re talking about one word in all of language and the floodgates open about how everybody is trying to hold the white man down. Over one word. Is that what some people think discrimination is? Where have you frigging been for the last 400 years to be so obtuse? Well, let me be the first to tell you that if you’re inclined to believe that one word is systematically destroying your world perhaps you should ‘get over it’.
It takes stones to claim that you’re being persecuted over a bunch of hypothetical suppositions. ‘This has never happened to me but that’s irrelevant because I’m the victim so how very dare you?’
People of all stripes can be are frequently are a bunch of jackasses, but don’t be so obtuse as to think it’s evenly matched. I’ve come across a few neo-Nazis and it wasn’t as if I was in Nigeria or somewhere when it has happened. You may have been hurt by someone of a different race because s/he’s a jerk, but you wouldn’t tell a person who just had heart surgery, ‘Whatever, baby. I’VE got a papercut. Where’s MY pacemaker?’
Why is it so damned important that you say it?
If you don’t get to say the n-word, you’ll die and that’s science. Some do, but not in such high volume and with so much anger. Where are you and your *principles* when it’s not black people being addressed? I’m NOT saying that it’s only black people who have to deal with this crap, no one is stupid enough to believe it. It’s talked about as if the word is an entitlement. Then it’s the race (card) riots.
‘Why can’t I say this word?’ Is a question asked so many times, by so many people in so many contexts, for so long about this word. And it’s so vitriolic. Rush Limbaugh gets rightfully excoriated for his asinine ‘feminazi’ garbage because that’s what it is. I don’t hear so many people asking, ‘why can’t I say ‘feminazi’? Ann Coulter’s diseased thinking isn’t met with as much of, ‘why can’t I call people the r-word?’ It has to be the worst one.
Nope, suddenly your convenient dog’s breakfast of an ethical code is on extended vacation and that’s bull.
@Jo Mama
Yes. The very definition of privilege is that those who benefit from it have no idea that they do.
Your comment is fantastic.
The lawsuit is about her brother Bubba’s use of pornography in his office at the restaurant he and Paula own. He was harassing employees by viewing it openly on his computer and making lewd comments, therefore creating a hostile workplace. Paula’s N word is not the key to this case. It is her poor management of the harassment situation and lack of control of her brother that is bringing her down.
Lisa Jackson, the manager of said restaurant,and the plaintiff, is a white woman, btw.
I think you’re underestimating the purchase power of angry rednecks who seem to have forgotten that there is a deposition in which she admits freely saying the word and being fairly nonchalant about it. A disturbing number of them seem to feel that this is an Obama led liberal media smear campaign against white people.
I’ve gone over and over this whole thing since the story. I think maybe she is sorry and maybe remorseful and not just because she got caught and called out and lost. But what still rankles and what I can’t accept is that she just doesn’t seem to get it. Frankly, the kind of “genteel”, casual racism of not understanding why people would be appalled by the idea of wanting a southern plantation wedding or telling one of your workers to not stand against a dark background because he’s black as a board and they won’t be able to see him is far more insidious than the KKK. This idea of “Well, that’s just the South” is what is keeping this kind of backward train of thought alive.
+1
+2, except to say PD is not and never was “genteel”
Agreed. And her admission that she can’t make the determination of who could be offended by comments/jokes (about blacks, Jews)-wow. I don’t think she’s a horrible person-just like my old neighbor who used the expression “Jewed them down” to me (a Jew)-but this is absolutely bigotry.
Admits freely? She was giving testimony for a deposition under oath in a lawsuit-not like she called up a tabloid reporter-she was completely wrong and I feel bad for the employees in her company who will probably be unemployed sooner than later. As far as blaming the president anyone who thinks like that needs a mental evaluation-hadn’t seen or heard any of that
Well said grabby.
LOL I was waiting for them to drag Obama into it. For some of these jerks, Obama is responsible for everything from the hole in the ozone layer to Original Sin.
I don’t think they’ve forgotten she’s nonchalant about it. I think they admire her for it.
Yup. Half of her hype men are on this thread.
also, brings up in the memory that South Park episod…
By way of contrast- what has to happen for Nike to drop folks? It only dropped Armstrong when he admitted to lying and doping, meanwhile Oscar and Serena continue to be on the “payroll”. Serena’s “apology” was as lame as this. Saw the “Drop Serena” FB effort referenced on that thread. What do you bet Paula gets picked up by Fox or CMT?
I’ll pray for your mom, Jamie. I’ll pray for her black soul! (And not the good kind of black soul that comes at the end of the high five.)
Uh, did she really name that book her “New Testament”?? Goodbye, Paula.
yeezus was taken
Lol!
Golf clap. 🙂
Heh. Clever, clever commenter.
She probably still thinks she did nothing wrong, and is totally blindsided by all of the outcry.
Yup. I think she uses n***** as a descriptive word. The bigotry is so deeply ingrained that she probably doesn’t even think about it. She thinks that because there’s no malice meant when she says it to describe…oh, let’s say the cashier at Piggly Wiggly, that she’s not being a bigot. I don’t think there’s any growth potential for this woman. After reading the excerpt from her book about the “Sambo” burger, she seems comfortably, woefully ignorant.
Lol! Mama always said it’s okay if you use it as an adjective as long As you don’t use it as a noun!
Just read QVC was going to drop Paula too!
Yay! Paula is vile in so many other ways–so inappropriate. It’s about so much more than the “N” word, which, in itself, is bad enough.
she was drunk live on air once. it was priceless.
I know social media and internet comments are not reflective of society, but oh my are the comments I have seen skewed in favor of Paula. It’s like 20% negative towards her praising the food network and the other 80% defending Paula. People seem to think that Paula is being fired because she said the n word in the past without even bothering to read the deposition or understand the whole story. And like some commenters above me posted, people are bringing the president into it and blaming the liberal media. A big trend seems to be the old ” well if black people can call each other that and use it in rap music, then they shouldn’t complain.” I have also seen a lot of people say “the second a white person says something about a black person they get crucified, but black people can use any slur they want and it’s ok (loooootttttsss of people said “black people can call us crackers and there are no consequences”). People are also deflecting and talking about how Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Mahr called Sarah Palin’s son a retard and no one said anything about, or like I said earlier how Obama sat in the church of a “white hating” pastor for years. I think that this story has brought to light how truly racist some people still our in this society. I have read some comments in the past few days on here and Jezebel about people from the south who said that they don’t know any white person who uses the n word. Well, I am from the north east and I am ashamed to say I do. I know people (not friends or family members, thankfully) that are truly racist a holes. This whole thing has gone so far beyond Paula Dean and spiraled into something else altogether.
I agree that it’s not representative of society (the 80% supporting her).
Those are just the ones who care enough about her to comment.
No, it’s not that they care more. It’s that the rest of the world has more intelligent things to do with their time than troll Facebook and other social media. Yes, I comment here when I’m bored. But I don’t spend all day on social media sharing and tweeting my every move. Those are the people who are commenting in favor of Paula. People who spend hours watching daytime tv and Food Network and whatever. I know this is really snarky but I am just so tired of stupidity.
There are a lot of liberals (like me) who have nothing better to do either, at least today. I think what’s happening is that lots of liberals are rolling their eyes and not paying attention to this. Maybe they think, oh, it’s just a bunch of “rednecks”, they’re all like this, who cares. There’s a lot of classism in every part of our society, and liberals are definitely not exempt.
I think also, gossip and celebrity news tends to attract more conservatives than liberals. I believe this is partly because liberals often like to think they’re “above it” — and then they don’t pay attention and are blindsided when pop culture shifts.
@emily c no I get the perception that more liberals are attracted to gossip and celebrity news. They don’t seem above it at all. But it’s more young liberals, because pop culture is such an important part of our lives.
I grew up in the South, and was one of the people who stated that neither my parents, nor their friends or relatives ever used that word. I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that no one did, I was just trying to say that Paula’s excuse of growing up in the South was offensive to me because it implies that everybody said it and that’s simply not true.
When I was in my 20s, I moved to the Northeast, and was shocked to find that people told racist jokes and had derogatory names for just about everybody. Certainly not everyone did, but I was stunned to find it at all, because I was brought up with all of this shame about racism in the South, so I assumed there wasn’t any here.
The whole country needs improvement. Maybe this will start a conversation, but thanks to Paula and her supporters, I fear that the conversation will be about how Southerners are racist and everybody else can be smug and judgmental. So, thanks Paula and friends. Good job. Go eat some fried butter.
Piggybacking on this. I’m so tired of people who aren’t from the south and have never visited making snide judgements based on something Paula deen says. Maybe for her generation it was just the south, but for ALOT of down here, that crap does not fly. I’ve never herd any white person use the n word, I’ve never heard any people in my family use it becausee even as immigrants even we know how wrong it is, I’ve only ever heard black people use it and even then pretty sparingly.
Do people use it. Yes, there are quite a few who use it nonchalantly. But there are many more who don’t and KNOW that’s it’s never appropriate. People outside of the south seem to think they’ve solved the race problem and the south is some great bastion of racism and stupidity. My advice get outside your bubble.
I don’t agree, guys. I’m from Missouri originally and when I moved to Florida, I was shocked by the amount of racism here. I started out living in the Destin-Panama City Beach area. I lived in Panama City Beach for a long time and people would come to visit from Georgia and Alabama. Many people disagree with interracial relationships and I have unfortunately heard the n word used. But this is a very redneck area, so maybe it’s not that way in all of the South. I thought Florida would be like California, just the opposite side of the US but it’s really like living in the South. I moved to Jacksonville and it’s a better but still pretty racist. I mean, it’s prob different in South Florida but my overall experience has been that the South is pretty racist. There seems to be more emphasis on what race you are and more racial division. As in less mingling of the races. Like one time I was at a bar and talking to a black guy. He left and i was checking out this white guy. He was giving me the eye earlier, but after i was talking to the black guy then he ignored me. I was left with the impression that because I was talking to a black guy he was no longer interested in me. which was fine by me, bc i wouldnt want to date somebody like that anyway, but still, it shouldn’t be like that. I was checking out a black guy at work one day and saying how hot he was and my co-worker was horrified, saying she would never date a black guy. I also had a friend who was curious about dating a black guy, but said her family would kill me.
My mom doesn’t care who I date, I’ve dated just about every race, lol. So for that, I’m glad. But I do have to say I think the South is pretty racist, based on my experiences. Up north, there’s also racism, as well, on both sides of the fence but it’s not as blatant. When I went to Job Corps in St. Louis, it was in a mostly black neighborhood. I would get called cracker or people on the bus would talk about those crackers, i.e., me and my friend. Racism is everywhere, unfortunately, but more openly in the South. But things have gotten better than in years past. But it is so sad that people read a book by the cover,instead of taking the time to open the book and read the inside.
I think it very much depends on where you live in Florida. No question, there is TONS of racism here, and a history of some of the worst racism in the country. But you get huge swaths of Florida that are completely different, like around the universities. I have met fewer people here with racist ideas than I did in Michigan, and it’s also extremely diverse.
Florida is a strange place. My husband and I got married at City Hall, and there was a statue out front “honoring” the South for the Civil War, and of course they didn’t call it the Civil War, they called it “the war between the states”. That put me in a bad mood. But then the person who officiated at our marriage was a black woman. So, at least where I live in Florida, I start thinking one thing about it, then something exactly the opposite happens, and I just end up… confused.
But yes, there is no question about there being lots of racism here, because I see it on the news and I’ve read about it in history, and I hear stories like yours.
@Joanna – I’m from New England and have lived in the South for many years. You sound young, and I’m glad that you don’t personally have any racial barriers in your social life, but I would caution you not to romanticize “the north”. There are just as many racists there as there are here. As an example, I have seen more disgustingly racial cartoons and posts on FB about our current President from my former high school classmates in MA than I have from anyone in my current geographical location of NC. Most of the people in the South right now are from the North, anyway.:-) If I were to generalize racism, I’d do it by a number of factors and the physical location of the person would only be one of them.
There’s racism all over. My son graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine and he used to get the N-word tossed at him by the local rednecks when he was driving down back roads.
@joanna I’m not saying we don’t have problems. We do, buts it’s truly annoying when people put the north on a pedestal and trash southerners left and right without ever coming down here and experiencing how diverse the south is. We have problems with race, WE KNOW THAT! But we are also os much better than people think. We ain’t all dumb and marrying our cousins like everyone believes. And honestly there’s this whole debate about whether Florida really is a southern state…so there’s that.
Sure there’s racism everywhere, but after a lifetime of living in the Chicago suburbs I now live in the Atlanta suburbs and it’s night and day.
The culture is soaked in casual racism. It’s not just the rebel flags proudly flying, it’s the embracing of the image of the good old days before the Civil War, openly spoken racist remarks, the rabid anti-Obama rednecks, the happily embracing of ignorance that is “Get her done” personalities.
What’s probably most shocking to me is what seems to be the acceptance of this racism in the black community in a way I just didn’t notice in the Chicago area.
Emily- I’ve never been further south than Washington DC briefly, but I call it the War Between the States too because that’s what it was. It wasn’t really about slavery, Lincoln was not an egalitarian and signed the Emancipation Proclamation only because he thought it would help him win the war. Meanwhile New Yorkers were lynching blacks… And pre-war, northerners happily handed over escapees to their “owners”. To be honest, the southern form of racism is easier to confront than the northern form, same for de facto segregation in the north compared with the south. The important issue here is the hostile workplace accusation, not how often Deen used the n-word in private with friends and family. Jumping all over her for the wrong (but easier) reasons has lost an opportunity to talk with her rather than at her about the real issues. I think she is genuinely baffled.
I think we might be friends w/same family on Facebook. My friend and her family are circulating a post that covers everything you just stated on your post. As a minority I was so appalled I’m staying away from Facebook for a few days.
I think it’s because those people are scared, realizing that their own behaviour is actually not acceptable, and kicking up a fuss, wanting to believe that they are still actually good people. They think if they are loud and indignant, they can deflect from the fact that they are racists, themselves.
I think that’s some good insight, I’m sure that does play a part.
Her eyes look so weird. They remind me of the ridiculous colored contacts of the 80’s and 90’s that didn’t look realistic at all.
I live in Savannah. Here, we all know not to eat at her or her brother’s place. They are over priced tourist traps.
She sure is gonna take a hit, because tourist season is only about 3 months long.
She would be smart to settle her suit and retire on the island with her hubby.
And if y’all ever come to Savannah, skip her gross buffet and go eat at Mrs. Wilkes boarding house.
Will do. I always thought her show sounded gimmicky — like the cooking show equivalent of fried Twinkies. I hope she’s replaced by a real southern cook.
I second the Mrs Wilkes recommendation. I will be forever grateful to the friends who pointed us there on our first visit. Advice to anyone who might be visiting Savannah: Bring cash and get in line early!
Mrs. Wilke’s is WAY better
Thanks for the suggestion! I’m honeymooning in Savannah in October and I’m researching where to go… and where not to go 🙂
She thinks it’s quaint to revisit an era of slavery and can’t fathom black people not wanting to be props in it. I don’t care what language she uses to describe that, it’s racist.
This is exactly it.
She had guests like Pat and Gina Neely on her program – I do wonder what African-American peers thought of her at the time, and think of her now. If a person truly does not understand how problematic this ‘genteel plantation wedding’ would be to the vast majority of people, it’s hard to avoid concluding that she’s deeply racist, and that her racism would be in play in interactions with everyone around her.
In a talk with a NYT reporter last fall, Deen mentions one of her ancestors who killed himself after the War of Northern Aggression (kidding, she doesn’t call it that way). Well, dude had 30 slaves, and in the interview not once she calls them ‘slaves’, but ‘people on the books’ who ‘helped’ her grand granddad work the plantation.
I’m sure the people who “helped” her grandad were treated well, too. Not. The lies people tell themselves…
Wow….
…
Wow.
I doubt she understands the problem. She just thought it looked splendid. This would have been a good opportunity to explain to her and others, using examples from other ethnic groups especially her own , how things look very different to different participants and how history is not forgotten nor should it be. But it’s easier to call her names and laugh at how she looks.
She has money, why did she not hire a decent PR Team? I’ll never understand these celebs not having a top notch PR Team on hand. Maybe she is too long in the tooth to understand internet backlash, and this completely P.C. society we live in now. Her PR Team would have told her this.
Not every one in the South holds to her beliefs! She is yet further tarnishing the Southern persona with her “I’m old and from the South” bullcrap. So is my grandmother and she isn’t racist!
LOL, it’s been a while since I’ve heard that phrase, “long in the tooth”. Totally agree about the PR team, what a way to cut corners..geez..
Posted in the wrong place, sorry.
Methinks Paula is big time stupid. In the deposition she had no idea how much money her restaurants were making. She must also think that her overdone southern redneck accent is attractive. I lived in Atlanta for many years. Well bred Southerners have just a faint accent. The Paula Deen accent is a yokel accent, lower class hick to the core. And now it is catching up with her. Bring me the owll (oil), Bobbie, and lets get to cookin!.
Not only did she say racist things, but it was known that a manager was sleeping with an underage girl. Ya she is not a good boss. She’s one of those women that allows guys to continue to be cavemen.
It seems like the sexism and providing a hostile work environment for women haven’t gotten as much play. I know the main perps aren’t as famous as she is, but for her to look the other way or take a “boys will be boys” approach speaks volumes about her character, too, as does the fact that she hasn’t bothered to apologise or take any resposibility for it even though she was the boss.
Yep, this.
Well, looking the other way while your husband was harassing and sexually coercing the “help” is something quite fitting for a Southern slaveowning woman. She just likes her roleplay that much, y’all. She’s scum.
She fired that manager and, as I understand it, replaced him with the woman now suing her. Her statements about the situation, however, are revolting. Something along the lines of “I haven’t worked so hard and so long to lose everything over a p__ssy”.
Ewwww. A comment like that leads me to believe PD hired the woman for show and was expecting her to go along with whatever in exchange for a paychecque. Surprise!
I was silly enough to bother posting on TFN fb page…. And was met with ridiculous replies to my post. Namely, since I’m Canadian my opinion means nothing. Good to know.
I liked Paula for a long time. Looked past and made excuses for the diabetes cover while cooking with a pound of butter in each recipe. But this, I will not look over.
Good-bye and good riddance Paula.
Yeah, I was told by someone that I don’t “get it” because I’m Canadian. Which proves that they themselves do not understand what racism is, at all. It’s not a regional standard; it’s an accross-the-board understanding and attempt at respect that people of a certain intelligence level share.
+1
On behalf of all Americans I would like to apologize to both of you (and all Canadians for that matter) for the churlish treatment you’ve received from those knuckleheads.
Not all of us are jerks. However I will admit that when traveling abroad, if someone asks me if I’m Canadian, I tend to just say yes. 😉
Damn you Canadians and your sense of fair play and your politeness. LOL
hahah! 🙂
I’m black AND Canadian…do I exist? 😉
Never liked this woman. So saccharine sweet, you just knew she wasn’t real, like the chemical sugar substitute.
Her fans aren’t doing her any favors with the kind of comments they are posting. They are doubling down, and making her look worse.
Ding, dong, butter witch is gone.
Please let this mean that we’ll never again be caught off guard on this site with a grotesque picture of this woman.
LOL…………….
And not one of you are guilty of being racist or prejudice or judgmental are you !….Every one of you unless you were brought up in a isolated island in the north pole have been guilty of racism at one time or another….its human natural. but what is happening to Paula Deen a person whom I have never liked because she is so fake…..her voice and put on accent (yes I am southern) but most of us never sounded or sound like that…..anyway though I don’t like the lady I can’t not stand they way she is being witch hunted down by the media …It like a pack of vultures on a fresh kill all trying to get the best piece of meat and they will pick until there’s nothing but bone left….You’ve seen it before….They destroy people’s lives in the name of news and their bottom dollar….
It’s just a word but people have invest into it the power to destroy and hunt …..take away that power and it will be just a nasty word ….think about it…..
She made a ton of money being a public figure. There is a responsibility that comes with that. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
So true but !!!
With every person in the public eye whether a movie star a political officer or a preacher the more famous you become the more vultures gather in the tree around you waiting for you to miss step….and that will happen whom ever you are…..there is always be someone waiting for a mistake….this is Paula mistep and the vultures are having a field day….the problem is the public puts famous people up on pedestals and expect them to be perfect and Nobody is perfect we are all flawed……..some more the others….No the Media loves to tear down famous people it sales !!! Scandal always does !! If she had been Paula the cook down at Pop’s restaurant you would have never heard any of this….All these people who are screaming racist over a word need to look in the mirror……that’s all I have to say….
No, no I’ve never thought it would be fun and classy to pretend my dinner was staffed by slaves. She’s a shitty person, and people should not feel bad for not wanting to give her their money. She has the right to say whatever she wants, and people have the right to think it’s unacceptable. Picking on this behaviour is the only way to end, it as a culture.
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.
Oh yay, the “nobody is perfect” argument.
I’ve never used that word. I’ve never romanticized slavery. I’ve never married a man who forced his employee to watch porn with him. I do not tell racist jokes, and I do not laugh at them when I see them, and I do not accept them in my orbit. Racism is endemic throughout our society, and no one is totally exempt, but that just means we have to be even more careful about extreme offenses like Paula Deen’s.
Of course we wouldn’t talk about her if she weren’t famous! We don’t talk about good things that people who aren’t famous do either normally because, and I know this is a complicated concept, they aren’t famous.
For u to to say its just a word is disgusting…… It is NOT JUST A WORD!! Slavery and black heritage is very real to us. When someone uses the n word so callously it shows they have no consideration for why that word even came into play or what it implies to black people. The fact that most Black Americans can’t trace our bloodlines back past the abolition of slavery because we weren’t even considered human beings to be counted in a census. It says that there is no regard for the facts that so many died and were beaten simply for the color of their skin or fighting for the right to not be judged in that way. It is not just a word it is an insult used to belittle blacks and let us know that we are the ” inferior race” so u can say that we give it power but its history that gives that word power. And it is never okay to use that word to describe someone simply because of the color of their skin and as a person that saw the civil rights movement and witnessed the struggle of blacks especially in the south Paula Deen should know better and have more respect. Shame on her and shame on u for excusing it
+ all the 1s
If you think it’s just a word, call a black person the N-word to his face. I’d advise putting on a good pair of track shoes first, though.
THIS!
Not trying to diminish the seriousness of this topic, but really it depends on the person and the situation. I know I’m gonna get flack for retelling this story, but one of my co-workers – yes, a black man in his mid-20’s – thought it was so hilarious when “white” women would say the “N-word” that he asked a few of us at work to say “what’s up my n*****” on his cell phone, in the “whitest way possible” so that he could use it as his ringtone when he was off work. He would laugh his ass off every time the phone rang. When I asked why it didn’t bother him, he said it was just words and that it didn’t define him in anyway (he’s not African-American)since he wasn’t born here.
Again. Not condoning Paula Deen or her behavior. Just wanted to share this story.
Speak for your hillbilly self. Not all of us are hidden racists.
And here is a news flash. Words have meanings. There is this really cool book called the ‘dictionary’ you might want to check out since it seems you don’t know this.
Just a word? Here are some of your own words.
And I just proved my point by your responses to my comment…..I have be verbally called a cracker….a hillbilly which I’m proud of being…and Redneck….are these words and better then N…..er….They are just as hurtful and just as mean in spirit …and they are loaded with as much hate and hurt…..This is America and I will agree to disagree….Thank You very much …This does not make me a racist or bigot or any other words you can call me just because I have a different opinion then you do.
Speaking of reflection…
U think u proofed a point and as far as I’m concerned I never referred to u by and type of racial remark however I did state that u have no right to trivialize the stuggle that black have gone through by sayin that is just a word I’m looking back at the responses to u I’m trying to see where u were called a redneck I’m trying to see where u were called a cracker and u called urself a hillbilly so how can u say that is hurtful when that is how u refer to urself if anything unproved that u aren’t as smart as u like to think u are
They are not “just as hurtful and mean”. White people do not have a history of being owned as slaves, or of being not allowed to vote because of their skin color, or of all the other discrimination that has gone on and still goes on today in our society. You are comparing a water balloon to a water cannon.
My posts go to the craziest threads. I wasn’t sounding off (for once) on this one.
@dd: The bulk of that comment was a quotation of a different comment from hillbilly, I wasn’t specifically responding to your comments. I just found it odd to see a comment that talked about how hurtful certain words are when directed at her but then goes on to say that words aren’t hurtful…if directed at people not like her, presumably.
“It’s just a word but people have invest into it the power to destroy and hunt …..take away that power and it will be just a nasty word ….think about it…..” I’ve heard this so called solution before,
I think it’s trite. There is a VILE HISTORY behind the word. It is a word that carries with it the weight of the enslavement, exploitation, disenfranchisement, torture and murder of an entire race of people. It will ALWAYS carry that weight. And no one should forget the word’s association with that part of this country’s history. And NO ONE…NO ONE should EVER use the word. In ANY context. So no, hillbilly…it’s NOT just a word.
Is it wrong as a caucasian if I call white trash/racist trash like her a cracker. I have not and would never say the n word. It makes me cringe whenever I hear anyone say it.
But I have recently started calling bigots Crackers? It is the appropriate use of the term for her- especially since she made people dress as slaves. Can I use it? Any objections?
I don’t like to counter name calling with name calling…but she’d probably orgasm if you reminded her of cracking slaves with whips, so maybe it’s like Paula Deen foreplay. I dunno if yhou want to get yourself into that.
Meh, I’d stick with “racist”. Anything else might confuse the issue.
There are multiple explanations of the etymology of “cracker”, most dating its origin to the 18th century or earlier. One theory holds that slave foremen in the antebellum South used bullwhips to discipline African slaves, with such use of the whip being described as ‘cracking the whip’. The white foremen who cracked these whips thus became known as “crackers”. (thanks wiki!)
Yeah, I don’t think ‘cracker’ will offend any bigots- they’ll probably feel secretly delighted and vindicated by your (confused) use of racist terms (‘See? The other side’s just like us!’ Which is one way they’ve been trying to frame the argument for a while now). Try to limit yourself to attacking their ideology, manners, and overall willful ignorance.
I am not confused about the historical definition of the word cracker. I am actually quite correct in calling Paula Dean a cracker- since she sees no problem in treating people like slaves. And I would never refer to a bigot to their face as a cracker. To myself and maybe my family I call racist trash crackers.
imp people need to be against all name calling.
She didn’t make people dress as slaves. She said that she would love to have colored men in dinner jackets at her brother’s wedding, because she had seen this at a restaurant somewhere in the south and liked the idea. She then also said she realized it would be in poor taste. During the time that she was making these statements she did not have an official HR person, which she eventually hired. She was woefully ignorant of what she should not be saying in front of employees, and the savvy employee jumped on opportunity.
No. What she allegedly said was:
“Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n—-s to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around. Now that would be a true southern wedding, wouldn’t it? But we can’t do that because the media would be on me about that.”
And the ‘savvy employee’ heard, saw and experienced much more than that.
She didn’t say it was in poor taste, she said she’d have to cover her butter about her daydreams because she didn’t want to deal with the grief of being brought to book by the many, many people who would be offended by her poor taste.
But wait. If Paula Deen had NOT wanted to hire any black waiters, wouldn’t that be considered racist also? It seems to me that she would be condemned either way.
@LeeB
That’s not an apt comparison and you know it. Smarten up and speak like an adult.
The people who will actually suffer from this are her employees: her restaurant staff, her TV production crews, her design team, her assistants, office workers, etc. It’s not Paula and her kids who will pay the price, but literally hundreds of folks who make a living from her fame. They will now have to look elsewhere for work.
Paula Deen will be fine, y’all.
You know, all those people who were on the Death Star when it got blown up were just workers. It wasn’t done yet. So it was just construction crews, people being paid to build the thing.
Yeah, they were innocent – but they were also working for the evil empire.
I know it isn’t easy to get even a crappy job, and I have put up with BS for money just like every single other person in the world. (Even Angelina and Kim K don’t love every minute of their jobs.) And it totally sucks that people will be out of work.
But at the same time, hopefully they can find something better, working for someone who respects them and doesn’t look on them as slaves. And for more money! To hell with Paula Deen. May she vanish!
I have never felt right about Paula, and I’ve thought she was an absolutely ridiculous excuse for a “tv chef” since she literally fried butter. Disgusting. Anyway, I can’t imagine going to work, and have some ignorant white person ask me to pretend to be a slave for their personal enjoyment. After all real black people went through not even being considered people or citizens of this country and having their languages, culture, and dignity beaten and raped out of them.
I think Paula Deen is pure evil, not just ignorant, to do something like that, on top of all the other racist and sexist things she did and tolerated. Just hateful and evil. And her apologists, like her, are pieces of garbage. I’m just glad this website tends to attract intelligent commenters who don’t make excuses for Paula being a racist piece of crap. It makes me feel better about the ignorant apologist trash on this thread defending Paula. I’m also pleasantly shocked and surprised that there were so many older Southern white people who refused to call black people out of their names and refused to let their children and grandchildren do it either. I have to thank some of the commenters for restoring some of my faith in humanity and older southern whites.
I would highly recommend that Paula read (if she can…) a great book called “The Book of Negroes” by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill. He’s mulatto, and grew up in a very intolerant society (yes, Canada used to be intolerant of not only blacks but all races, but because of its rich multi-ethnicity now, that’s for the most part a thing of the past.) It’s based on an actual ‘book of negroes’ that was kept to log the more than 30,000 escaped slaves as they came north through the underground railroad to safe haven in many provinces in Eastern Canada. Maybe then she’ll understand the horrors they escaped in good old ‘Amurca’ and stop promoting her blatant racial stereotyping and prejudice.
“…(yes, Canada used to be intolerant of not only blacks but all races, but because of its rich multi-ethnicity now, that’s for the most part a thing of the past.)…”
Where the f*ck is the Canada you know? Because I am in the real one, and that is in no way true. I hate when Canadians romanticise their own issues with racism and ethnicity (these Canadians are always white). People are people, and people everywhere need to try to do better.
Is being black in Canada as big an issue as in the US? Fine, probably not, but do you want to take a look at life as an Aboriginal Canadian? Because you sure as Hell wouldn’t want to, where I’m from. The issues in Canada are different, but no less disgusting and debilitating. Our shit stinks, too
Having travelled all over the south for the past 4 decades, often with a mixed race couple who are my best friends and live there, I can with some authority tell you that in Canada rednecks rarely throw bottles at cars, try to drive you off the road, or say insulting things in public places to a family and child who happen to be a bi-racial family. I didn’t say we’re perfect, nor that racial intolerance doesn’t still exist here, but we’re a hell of a lot better than we were 50 years ago. I’m 60, I remember, I’ve lived through Canada’s transformation, and all things considered, we’re much more tolerant than the southern U.S.
It is NOT “for the most part, a thing of the past” and intimating so is irresponsible to the community you love. Not having the worst standards isn’t something to brag about, and comparing the US to Canada and the response of “at least we are better than ___” , even for a moment, demeans the entire struggle to be better. I know a ton of Canadians who are more racist than a lot of Americans I know. It’s just not about black people, so we’re winning, right?
Will probably read this. My family was once labeled (until about 40 years ago) Mulattos and or people of ‘free’color. We were actually listed as Mulattoes on the census and were discriminated against throughout our family history. Its became better in the last few years as America has become less white but it still exists. Thanks for the recommendation 🙂
That said, thank you so much for the book recommendation. I am really interested in getting it.
The worst part about this situation is that the Food network IS TOTALLY GOING TO HIRE HER BACK AND GIVE HER ANOTHER SHOW.They are just waiting for the smoke to clear and her to finish her apology tour.As soon as she is interviewed by Oprah(who white folks seem to think speaks for all of us)and Oprah says she forgives her,she will get richer and more popular than ever.This is just like when Dog the Bounty Hunter was fired for saying the n-word and then rehired and given a bigger contract and more money 3 years ago.She is a southern woman who is going to have more fans down here in Georgia than ever before.It really makes me sick how much skinhead and racist support she has down here but she does.She is going to get away with all this and there’s nothing we can do about it.It makes me sick,but that’s the country we live in.
I don’t think she will have another shot at a TV show, unless Rupert Murdoch wants to start a cooking network. The expectations of a bounty hunter and a self-described “lady” pitching comfort food are quite different.
I can see the Oprah interview happening, but I don’t think she’s clever or articulate enough to survive a withering line of questioning, or talk her way out of what she’s already said under oath. Plus I get the feeling she really believes her behavour ‘wasn’t as bad as everyone is making out it to be.’ Why else would she have allowed the lawsuit to go forward? If she does Oprah, it’s a certain train wreck.
+1. And let’s not forget Don Imus….
And I just proved my point by your responses to my comment…..I have be verbally called a cracker….a hillbilly which I’m proud of being…and Redneck….are these words and better then N…..er….They are just as hurtful and just as mean in spirit …and they are loaded with as much hate and hurt…..This is America and I will agree to disagree….Thank You very much …This does not make me a racist or bigot or any other words you can call me just because I have a different opinion then you do….Pax
ITA hillbilly. The PC BS on this subject is hypocritical at best.
The words you have been called translate into ‘tacky’ and ‘uncouth’. The ‘n’ word means ‘inferior’, ‘deserving of hate’ and ‘less than human’. Big difference.
I usually love your posts. Today, I think you would do well to enroll in a history class. I don’t recall my history books being filled with images of ‘redneck auctions’ with families of poor whites being torn apart to be sold as property to the highest bidder. The country didn’t enter into a Civil War to fight for the right to own rednecks. The term ‘cracker’ originated from the foreman who cracked the whip on slaves. Whites were okay enough with it to name sports teams ‘the Crackers’ for decades. Fifty years ago, hillbillies didn’t need to face off against water cannons for the right to vote or to get a good education.
Your point was that racist language is okay. Your difference in opinion was racist. Just because lots of people on both sides are unkind doesn’t make it right.
Hillbilly, you could try getting your head out of your behind. Words are not used equal. If a any person would call me ‘cracker’ I’d say or think that they’re a moron. But that word doesn’t oppress me, and it doesn’t ‘put me in my place’.
Let’s see…you call YOURSELF a hillbilly, and no one called you a cracker or a rednick. Don’t pretend to be a victim of persecution just to prove your flimsy point.
It doesn’t make you a racist or a bigot; it makes you completely clueless and not a little ignorant. As someone posted above, the words cracker and hillbilly do not come loaded with the freight that the N-word has and will always have. Poor whites in the South were not sold to the highest bidder nor were their families torn apart, nor were they denied the right to vote or forced to sit at the back of the bus, nor were they subjected to terror raids on their homes at night by the KKK. They WERE the KKK and they still are. So until you get a clue, you’d be wise to keep your mouth shut.
She isn’t racist, we all say things we don’t mean out of fear/anger behind closed doors, she is being punished for being honest! Anyone can start a lawsuit. $65.00 and the burden of proof is on the defendant in this country. You don’t have to do anything wrong, all they have to do is have it so the defendant can’t prove the plaintif wrong. A lawsuit of this magnatude, could be manipulated with 3-4 friends lying for each other and then splitting the money. been done before. Food network dropped her because they saw the lawsuit coming.
Can you read, you stupid s&*t? She did more then say the n- word which is unabashedly racist, she had black people pretending to be slaves and let her brother sexually harass the female staff. You’re as disgusting as she is. What you are attempting to do is extremely transparent: Stop trying to make yourself feel better about condoning behavior like that by excusing it.
Yikes Mia calm down. Alex has the right to voice an opinion.
@ Marie: So does Mia. And I think Mia’s anger is fully justified.
And Mia has the right to think it’s bullshit. Open dialogue works both ways.
Yes. Open dialogue does work. Unless your name is Paula Deen, right?
Marie Antoinette- Don’t even think of trying to deflect from this idiot excusing blatant racism to discuss my tone in RESPONSE to racism. (Google “tone argument” because I have time to teach you.) Why don’t you worry about why you don’t have the basic social skills and home training to realize that not calling black people out of their names has nothing to do with being “PC” or politically correct if any of you who harp on that line ever bother to spell it out. Okay?
I have every right to be fed up with reading the purposefully uninformed ramblings of a jerk who seriously thinks about defending Paula Deen’s behavior. Alex COULDN’T bother to acknowledge all the crap Paula Deen actually did because it’s so truly INDEFENSIBLE.
@Marie A
The fact is, she gets to say what she wants and others get to respond with dislike.
She wasn’t fired for what she said, in reality. She was fired because she became unpalatable to the public and, like it or not, she is a product has to be sold. There is likely even a clause in her contract stipulating that she can be let go for alienating her audience, as she is a public personality, a product in herself. If Hostess started selling Twinkies with the word “n*gger” printed on them, and no one bought them, they’d pull the pruduct. In business terms, this is a like thing, and I’d bet The Food Network is contractually protected in this way. Even if the heads of TFN agreed with her, socially, they’re just protecting their assets, and it’s a sound business decision.
You are free to speak as you’d like, but your speech has consequences.
Mia, I’m not going to take the time to decipher your last incoherent post.
Jackie, I agree with you 100%.
Mia’s comment was quite coherent unless you willfully chose not to understand it.
Oh please, Marie Antoinette, my comment makes perfect sense. It’s the same way anyone with a modicum of sense knows that all the behavior that Paula is being sued for is illegal, discriminatory, and offensive in the extreme. Can’t understand it? That’s your problem because I made myself extremely clear. Is that “PC” enough for you?
And another thing I want to make clear: not calling black people out of their names (calling them the n-word) doesn’t have anything to do with the buzzwords of the rude and ignorant: PC. Not calling black people the n-word has to do with having basic social skills, home training, and most importantly, not being a despicable racist.
Wow. This is all so interesting. If this dialog is initiated in this rather limited community of gossip followers, imagine what it’s sparking in a national community. I think it’s a good thing. Forty years ago, this would have just been swept under the rug. I was raised in a traditional, albeit sheltered, caucasian family – dad was a physician, mom stayed home, and I think I was close to 18 before I ever heard the n-word. And I was apalled. I had to ask someone what it meant and I couldn’t believe that one would judge another based on skin color. I am grateful to my parents to this day that I was raised in such a non-biased, accepting home. (I think I was also almost 18 before I ever heard the f-word). Life was gentler in the 70s. Not. (Think Kent State for those of you old enough to remember, although that was barely into the 70s, but it was still one of the saddest days I remember in my household).
Nothing to say, other than that that was a super-interesting comment on a few levels. Thank you.
Similarly, I didn’t understand that “gay” (the insult) was related to “gay” (the sexuality) until was 10 or 11. They didn’t seem linked; I thought it was like “bear,” “bare” and “bear”, or “to”, “two” and too.” Uncle R and Uncle G being together made perfect sense to me, as a child.
Socialization is so important to the perpetuation of, which is part of the reason that public offense to Deen’s casual racism is important.
*to the perpetuation of discrimination
@jackie ur responses are completely logical I couldn’t reply to the one up thread about Paula being a product but that’s exactly what it boils down to
@Domestic
Thank you. I think it’s really important to stay levelheaded, so that BOTH sides listen to each other. You don’t have to agree, but talking helps people understand the logic behind the other side–even if it’s flawed. And if you can see the other side’s logic, then you can dismantle it rationally, and in a way that brings people together. (not to say you can’t be pissed, but calm articulation helps win the war, rather than the battle.)
Whatever. call me a hippie, but disagreements don’t get solved, otherwise.
Visited QVC Facebook page and its filled with people supporting her. Requesting for them to keep her on air and continue selling her products. It’s nauseating to me and can’t believe these people still exist in 2013. Got to give it to Anthony Bourdain, he knew she fake from the get go. Love him more for calling her out when she was still a media darling.
It’s about respect. When you get underneath of the conspiracies, deflections, false equivalencies, obfuscations, selective memories and however many intellectual tricks you devise to negate the devastation it shows a lack of respect. To hold on so tightly to something that you know really, really, REALLY hurts it says, ‘I know this is painful for you and I don’t care.’
When avoiding one word is too much of an inconvenience it is cruel. There shouldn’t have to be qualifications, it should be enough to acknowledge that it’s incredibly mean to say those things and doubly so dismiss protestations. I don’t think that it’s someone who doesn’t have that word directed towards them will really understand but that shouldn’t be a barrier.
You might not know why it hurts, but you know that it hurts and when that’s not enough…why isn’t it?
Wise words.
You should see me when I bother to proofread.
Exactly Jo Mama. And I would add that EVERYONE should avoid that hurtful word.
Because until they do, it will remain in the lexicon.
One of the reasons discussions about this have gotten so heated is because there are people who apparently have not read the articles they are commenting on or they have not read them thoroughly. It was not one slip of the tongue by an old southern white woman stuck in the past. It was not.
There is quoted deposition cited in articles that clearly show Deen has some pretty backwards ideas about black folks–even ones she claims to love. Who in their right mind thinks it would be cool to have an all-black serving crew dressed as slaves for a wedding reception?
You can also look at the clip of her in an interview where she interacts with a black man she feels very close to and talks about how her grandfather killed himself after he had to give up his “workers” aka slaves. Her nostalgia for the old-time South is cringe-worthy.
This dialogue our country is having would be potentially more productive if people didn’t ignore the facts. We’re entitled to our opinions, but not our own facts. It was not a one time mistake. No matter how many times people want to keep saying it was, it was not.
That was my longest internet comment ever by the way.
“We’re entitled to our opinions, but not our own facts.”
I really like that sentence. Well put.
I totally agree. And, Jackie JJ, you’ve posted some great comments too. I love that we can have an intelligent discussion here.
I like it, too. I hope you like intellectual property theft because I’m stealing that line and when other people hear it I’ll tell them that it’s mine and I’ll dip my cookies in their compliments.
LOL. It’s not my line. Others have said it. Use it.
Everyone has the right to speak what they wish. What makes you any different then her. You call her racist but yet look at the things you are calling her. What does that make you?
Sure, say whatever you want. Just be ready to take the consequences.
And what would those consequences be, Janet?
1. We are calling her racist (because she is).
2. That makes us people who are calling her racist.
You seem to think that the right to say whatever you want only works for those who are blatantly offensive. No one is going to throw her in jail for saying bigoted things. She does not have a ‘right’ however to spew garbage free from judgement.
I have a friend who is married to a black man (she is white). She grew up her entire life in downstate NY but when her and her husband moved to SC for a year, when they’d go out to eat, they’d be given separate checks and were treated differently for being an interracial couple. And this was a major city in SC, not podunkville. Needless to say, they moved back to NY.
That being said, I had a elderly couple tell me as a teen that in my hometown of NY, when they grew up(we are talking 1920’s here) there was one black man in the town and everyone would greet him by calling him the N word and he responded to it like it was his name. I was startled by such an admission, but I guess that’s how it was.
Racism sadly exists everywhere and Paula Deen is probably finished because of this.
I honestly don’t think much has changed since the ’20’s. There are entire towns black ppl can’t go in and there are entire towns white ppl can’t enter. And it is not only in the south although I think there’s more of it there.
One good thing from this debate is I have a better perspective of the n word usage. Coming from south east Asia, I was also perplexed on why rappers seem to use the word so easily but now I know that they are not representative of all African Americans (forgive me if this is the incorrect term) and that it should just not be used by anyone, period. Really glad I learnt this!
I am astounded she didn’t settle the case immediately before all this crap got out.
she needs to take all of her riches and NOT be greedy..
go away!
I see there are alot of folks that thinks just like she and her family does..I’ve seen the comments on other sites, its disgusting.
I can’t imagine the conversations at her eatery, sad.
I will not be watching Food Network or buying products advertised on it. There’s always Household Network to watch. Too much fuss over long-ago comments by Paula (also she apologized). Whites are now held to higher standards than other races. If you want equality, treat the races the same!
This is a joke, right?
She’s lost her job(s), she will lose her lawsuit (more to come?) and still refuses to hire a PR firm.
Nothing more to say. Ba-bye!
“He who is without sin, cast the first stone!” “Judge not lest you be judged”
we have ALL said things “in our past” that were in someones view inappropriate. Give her a break, she was honest. And standing up Matt Lawer is not a criminal offence!!