Paula Deen is back, baby. Sort of. I mean, Paula’s business definitely took a hit after The Food Network dropped her and everybody was like, “Damn, girl. RACIST.” But Paula still had a lot of support. A surprising amount of support. She still managed to ink some new deals and she’s still moving products. And now Paula is launching her own “Paula Deen Network” online in September.
It was announced today that after a difficult year, the Queen of Southern Cuisine will be launching her own Paula Deen Network. And Closer Weekly has the exclusive preview before its September launch!
“I can’t wait for y’all to see my shows!” Paula excitedly tells Closer in her exclusive interview. And with 10 kitchen cameras on set, viewers won’t miss one moment. “We capture every nook and cranny and every moment.”
Paula tells the mag that she treasures the “wonderful rush of excitement” she gets taping shows like Paula Cooking Light in front of a live audience. And she is equally as excited to spend more time with her sons who, according to Paula, “will be on the Paula Deen Network a bunch.”
“I love having them on set, especially when Jamie takes over the stove. I can just relax and he goes to town!” Paula tells Closer of having her sons Jamie and Bobby on her new shows. “This is when I’m happiest — one boy on each side.”
Wait, what? Ten cameras on set? A network devoted to Paula cooking before a live audience? Somebody’s going to end up “accidentally” saying something racist. *taps nose, points at Paula discreetly*
People Mag had more details about the Paula Deen Network. If you pre-register, you get 14 “free days” of BUTTER (cooking instructions) and then after that, you have to pay $7.99 a month to subscribe to the Paula Deen Network. That sounds… expensive. Right? For that kind of money, you could subscribe to one of the fancier news sites with extensive archives.
Anyway, how do you feel about the return of Paula Deen? I’m strangely ambivalent. I think I would feel strongly about it if The Food Network brought her back, but she seems to have found an appropriate “home” on subscription-internet subscription. I’ve got to wonder if this site will do very well?
Photos courtesy of Closer Weekly.
I don’t know why she didn’t just take her millions and go away.
Hel-lo! My sentiments, exactly.
Because she doesn’t think she did anything wrong, and neither do her core fans. Remember, everyone is a little racist and we have all said racist things when under duress. Except not!
I’m guessing she has to charge due to lack of strong advertisers, which would otherwise make the site money?
IDK… she’s just awful all around so I can’t fathom paying for this. But I wouldn’t pay for this even for someone I liked, so…
Bless her heart
I hope she does well. She got screwed.
I agree. This revisionist history we have going on here in America is what really ticked me off. Her ‘of course’ was refreshing because we ALL know that southern people who are around her age used that word. EVERY DAY.
To have them deny it is the galling thing. Those kids who integrated Little Rocks Central High didn’t get a warm welcome. They were screamed at by LOCAL whites, who would be around Paula’s age now.
But to here them tell it today, it was ‘outside agitators’ or ‘not all the white students. just a few bad apples’. Yeah, right.
Just admit, as Paula did, that you were a racist back then. Is that so hard? There is photographic evidence of how racist things were. Just admit it!
Please. She got exactly what she deserved. Blithely reveal yourself as a racist and a misogynist and people ain’t gonna like you anymore, honey. Simple as that.
That said, this pay-website is a great idea – she can attract people like herself who think she “got screwed” and none of the rest of us will have to endure her fake good-old-gal butter ‘n mayo veneer. She can sling the n-word and the c-word and the f-word and the b-word around for people who will applaud her.
BTW, the “b-word” stands for “beaner” – I love that when Deen had chef Pati Jinisch on her former series, Deen was completely flabbergasted that Jinisch is a “white Mexican.” Cause you know, NONE of us are – we’re supposed to be short, brown, fat, ignorant and flipping tortillas all the time – well, in Paula’s world we are. Good think Jinisch didn’t tell Deen she’s also Jewish. Horrors!
She didn’t get screwed, she was the head of companies that routinely violated the labor laws regarding women and race. She KNEW about these POLICIES at her restaurants, yet she did nothing to change them.
She enabled and authorized sexual harassment and racial discrimination. She didn’t get screwed. The people who got screwed were the dark skinned employees who could only enter through the back door and had to work for beer instead of money, or the women who were forced to watch p0rn at work.
UGH…that face, that voice, the five million y’all’s, that racism, that non-apology….nope, wouldn’t pay one cent for this show!
Ditto to all you said, plus let’s add the pharmaceutical shilling.
And a “lady she ain’t”–she’s coarse, crude, vulgar, and inappropriate.
+2.
I pay less that $7.99 a month for my subscription to the New Yorker. Why anyone would pay $7.99 to get a recipe for pound cake or grilled cheese is beyond me.
I’m just glad that it’ll be easier for me to avoid her for the rest of my life (I often watch the FN at the gym).
She is the grilled Cheese. I think that’s what her fans found endearing. I’m not one of them.
That was one of her episodes for real though–she made a grilled cheese.
A GRILLED F*CKING CHEESE SANDWICH.
I learned to make that crap at 7-years-old and I’m pretty sure that even as a child, I made it better than she does.
Let me guess, topping the list of ingredients:
1 lb of butter
@Kiddo, no need for that insulting comparison. Grilled cheese can be quite nice!
I love grilled cheese sandwiches, especially when I don’t feel well. I guess I meant that she was the cheese or cheesy.
She’s crappy imitation cheese-the processed sh*t made from vegetable oil and casein.
She’s “processed cheese food” as they say on the side of a Velvetta box.
Kitten, DAMN. Now that is truly unacceptable. I learned how to make GC samiches from my mom, who never used processed *anything* until the day she died. People should read up on that junk, processed cheese has nothing even resembling cheese anywhere near it. Isn’t it like, one molecule away from plastic?? Eww.
MrsBPitt You forgot the creepy doll eyes and the gross randy manhandling of male guests
QQ…How could I forget those “Chucky” doll eyes…and to be frank, my can’t would explode if I thought about PD and anything sexual….GROSS!
QQ – I couldn’t stand how horny she was with certain males, trying to provocatively lick a spoon etc. I remember when she tried flirting with Jay Leno, on his show, and he did not reciprocate. LOL Gross
QQ and Sharon Lea–If you were married to Ugly Santa, you would be jumping on Robert Irvine’s sweaty back every chance you got, too!
I think she should spend the rest of her days in obscurity. They already have a format for her: Stormfront, right?
I totally agree! There’s not one person in our book club who can stand this woman. It’s a shame she won’t just go away, but she’s greedy and wants more money from the saps she’s able to suck in.
I don’t care, personally. I thought she had some big money backers, so there must still be a market. I’m not in that demographic, but never was, so no difference.
I’m still angry with her. I never thought she was a good source for recipes, even though I love Southern cooking. I just don’t think she’s that great of a cook. But I admired her as a person because she was terribly poor and built her empire herself, blah blah blah. When all of the racist stuff came out, I was so disillusioned, but what shocked me the most was her excuse. Well, shucks, I’m old and from the South. I guess I thought that since the Southerners I grew up with have grown or were never like that to begin with, that it was a universal truth, and it shocked and hurt me. Then, she had so much support from people, partly because I think they believed that she admitted to saying the N-word once a long time ago, and they didn’t bother to read any further to realize all of the other ignorant beliefs she held and racist behavior she engaged in. So the whole thing still embarasses me and makes me angry, and I hope she fails. I want her to go away, because I think she learned nothing but to be more careful.
I hear you, Goodnames. Everything you say here is spot on.
She really is shameful, isn’t she?
Yes, she is.
You’ve talked many times on here about how the south gets a bad rap so I can imagine how hurtful this was to you.
FTR, I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that I don’t see her as a representation of the south.
@Kitten. I agree with you. I don’t view Paula as a representation of the south, either. She represents to me the epitome of blind greediness.
I detest her…in no way does she represent the South.
PunkyMomma, I think you hit the nail on the head with “she represents the epitome of blind greediness.”
Thanks, OKitten, PunkyMomma and JudyK. That makes me feel better, truly.
People who want to stereotype southerners are just as guilty of being bigoted and backwards. Not ALL people in the south are racist.
I’m not from the South, but when the story broke I was very annoyed by all the “Well, what do you expect? Paula’s from the South, of COURSE she was racist” posts. It’s offensive. There are racists everywhere, and she’s not representative of anyone. For her to pull that as an excuse is just gross.
Thank you so much.
You know, I’d be more sympathetic toward that argument if it weren’t for the Confederate flags.
People can say, “Heritage, not hate,” all they want but that’s bull. And the Confederate flag is the flag of treason and racism and fighting to keep people as slaves. (The “state’s rights” argument is a joke.)
These are flags that are flying from statehouses down South, despite repeated controversies. It’s just like racist team names for sports teams. People have voted repeatedly to keep them.
Another fact is that, by any measure, the South ranks lowest among the states in things that measure progress and highest in things like poverty, divorce rates, fetal and maternal death rates, teen pregnancy, and so on.
I’ve lived and worked Down South off and on for decades. There’s a lot to love——no other place could produce women like Molly Ivins and Ann Richards——but let’s tell both sides of the story here.
I’d rather see a f*cking confederate flag on my state house than a video of a black dude getting killed in the street by an NYC officer who had him in a choke hold–for selling “loose cigarettes” at that. New York City, the self-proclaimed “melting pot” where the American dream is to be found for everyone, regardless of race, color, or creed.
And don’t EVEN get me started about Boston’s bussing issues in the 1970s.
Yes, the south could do better but we all could.
As a country.
Racism is not regionally-based in my opinion.
@fairyvexed
People who live in glass houses…
That’s my only point about the South. As TheOriginalKitten pointed out so well, we live in a racist COUNTRY. I’m not saying there are no Southern racists. But I’ve also lived in Philadelphia, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Los Angeles and Delaware, and every single place had very segregated neighborhoods, social clubs, etc., every single place had discrimination, problems with police mistreating blacks, no grocery stores in black neighborhoods, no black people at the country club unless they worked there, very sparsely integrated schools and people of all walks of life who were racists, told racist jokes, etc. My ex mother in law, from Connecticut was haranguing me about how racist the schools were in the South, and I asked her why my husband went to an all white public school in Westport. She looked at me like I was crazy and said “my dear, black people can’t afford to live in Westport.” I’ve had cab drivers from Brooklyn, back when cab drivers were from Brooklyn, hear my accent and tell me the South had it “right” about blacks. In Delaware, I know no one white who sends their kids to public schools. No one. The schools are so bad they don’t have enough books to go around. I could go on and on about it, but I find it exhausting.
Completely agree with you about the confederate flag flying over government buildings. Disgraceful.
I don’t understand what your point about highest fetal death rates, etc. has to do with this argument. Of course the poorest part of the country has the worst scores in those areas. I don’t get what that has to do with racism, but perhaps I’m being thick there.
@Faye,
The reason most people had that view is because most southerners these days like to pretend that ‘their’ blacks loved how things were. They like to say that ‘they’ weren’t part of the problem. It was those ‘other’ people. So I found it refreshing that a person of her age would finally admit how racists they were/are. Most if any still don’t do that. Its sickening and its the reason we can’t move forward. Can’t move forward if the terrorist won’t/don’t admit to their terrorism.
@Original,
RE: Boston busing. There is a famous picture of a black man being stabbed with an American flag in Boston. When I talked to a woman from Boston who was a teenager at the time 60s-70s, she claimed to never have seen this iconic photo. Denial. Its not just a river in Egypt (or the south. some northerners suffer from it as well).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Soiling_of_Old_Glory.jpg
my posts should not imply that I’m going to buy any of her crap or support her in any way. just that I’m glad someone finally admitted what we all know.
Paula Deen is not representative for the South. That would be crazy to assume. Yes, there’s racists everywhere. But they’re more open in the South, and there’s more social retrogrades and Jesus freaks, all liable to vote for horrible politicians. The South as a whole has a terrible record in social policies, education, general health of its people, LGBT acceptance and the list doesn’t stop here. It’s not one factor, but a whole series of facts and figures that drag the South down. I can’t tell the weight of racism in all this, but I’m convinced one evil feeds off another.
@delorb – “most southerners these days like to pretend that ‘their’ blacks loved how things were.”
What? Unless you’ve conducted a scientific poll of a majority of Southerners, there is no possible way you could say this. Not ONE person I know in the South has ever said, or even thought, something like this. By making blanket, unsupported statements like this, you’re just feeding into the exact type of thing I was talking about.
I’m sure there are people Paula’s age in the South who feel that way. I’m equally sure there are people like that in the North of her age.
@Delobr-I’ve never seen that picture either. It’s a powerful one for sure.
That being said. I think it’s unfair to paint certain regions of the country as inherently more racist than others because of your interactions with a single person from each area.
I tend to agree with ando that the South’s socio-political issues are much more complex than most of us realize.
There are some up thread saying this, and how ALL Southerners about her age said/say that word everyday. Nope. Not my mother, father, aunts, uncles, grandparents… only racists of any age use that type of language and think those things. And, the woman isn’t even old! This isn’t some 95-year-old person.
And, once again, people forget the horrible sexism and sexual harassment she allowed in her business.
@delorb
Well, I don’t think anyone who owned a slave is still living. If you mean that descendants of slave owners were told by family lore that the slaves of their family were not mistreated, and were actually sad that slavery was over and wanted to stay, etc., I have seen some of that myself.
I’m getting out of here now. One evil feeds off another just sort of makes me give up. Please, continue to use us as a balm to your own guilt. As least you’re better than somebody, right? As long as you’re pointing that finger outward, you don’t have to look inward. God forbid anything should change on your end.
@thread.
I don’t think I said that people in the south were worse, which is why I put up that picture of what happened in BOSTON. And I don’t think I said she was indicative of EVERYONE from the south or that I’d taken a poll (I think I used ‘most’). BUT if someone white were in the south prior to and during the civil rights struggle, then its a good bet that like Paula they used that word.
@tarheel,
Your people may not have done so, but there were PLENTY of people in the south who spoke and acted as Paula. But now that time has passed, they will almost universally claim that they never did. That it was always someone else. Some outsider. Guess it was just a small band of evildoers who lynched all those black people. Or a roving band of bad whites who went from place to place to scream racial epithets. NOT SAYING THAT YOUR PEOPLE DID ANY OF THIS. Just that ‘some’ people who were virulent racists back then are now claiming otherwise. Makes me want to puke.
And no, Paula is NOT old, which makes me sad because a lot of you don’t seem to understand that it was only a generation or two ago that the Civil Rights Act was passed. Those people are still alive and would be around Paula’s age and older now. Those kids who integrated Central High would be in their 60s today. Little Ruby Bridges who integrated her elementary is only 59. This is not ancient history.
President Obama is OLDER than the Civil Rights act. IF he had been living in the south at the time and attending school, it would have been segregated. So someone of Paula’s age and race would (most likely) have been standing outside screaming ‘n-word go home!’.
So I will state again, that I am in no way supporting Paula for her racism or other crimes. I’m just happy when one of those people ADMIT their racist past as very few of them do. Here’s hoping that one day they’ll admit that the civil war was fought over the legalization of slavery. But that’s a long shot and probably won’t happen in my lifetime.
@Goodnames,
“Well, I don’t think anyone who owned a slave is still living.”
??? I typed that most southerners THESE DAYS. Don’t know why you went all the way back to slavery.
I remember seeing a documentary where the white guy in charge claimed that their ‘negroes’ meaning the negroes in their town, (not the negroes they OWNED as this was filmed in the 1960s which is the time frame we’re discussing) were okay with not being able to vote. That it was those outside ‘negroes’ who were stirring up trouble. Hopefully that clears up what I typed.
BTW, I’m black, female and I live in the south, so I have no white guilt. I feel the same way about those people who claim they had no idea that Jews were being poisoned and burned just outside of town. What did they think that smell was? Just ADMIT IT, then perhaps and honest dialogue can start.
…but you said you talked to one person from that era who said she didn’t remember that photo. I’m a Bostonian and I can tell you that a lot of us know about the busing situation. It isn’t a secret.
“Just ADMIT IT, then perhaps and honest dialogue can start. ”
Yeah ok but that’s not what happened with Deen. She used her admission only as a way to justify using the n-word, then she went on to explain how that she thinks black servers at all-white restaurant is a romantic notion and a brilliant business model. Then after she was revealed to be sexist, racist, and disgusting to her employees, she played the victim card and used her professional problems to gain sympathy from the public.
She learned NOTHING.
I can agree that the side-dialogues and conversations that her situation generated can be seen as valuable, but the problem is that it came at the expense of her employees. It’s not like we can say “well she said the n-word and admitted it and nobody got hurt or treated poorly because of her behavior.”
I see where you’re coming from, but I have trouble finding anything redeeming or worthwhile to come out of this woman’s behavior.
“Yeah ok but that’s not what happened with Deen.”
Let’s be clear here. Deen is irredeemable. She’s an admitted racist among other crimes. So the goal, IMO, was not to get HER to change HER ways (as they seem to be set in stone). The goal was to get US to talk openly and honestly about that time and the people in it. No sweeping anything under the rug. No comments about how ‘my’ relatives never or the south never or ‘did you take a poll?’ No revisions. Let the chips fall where they may (be they north, south, east and west).
The reason that didn’t happen with Deen is because (she’s a foul human being) and because we allowed the narrative to shift. If we’d kept it on the fact that her reply was ‘of course’ and “would others like to step up to the plate and come clean too?”, we’d be further along, IMO. But we didn’t. It all became about her, her evil empire and how awful she is. Blah, blah, butter.
President Jimmy Carter said,
“She was maybe excessively honest in saying that she had in the past, 30 years ago, used this terrible word,” Carter told CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux in an interview Friday. “I think she has been punished, perhaps overly severely, for her honesty in admitting it and for the use of the word in the distant past. She’s apologized profusely.”
@delorb-Ok yes, I see what you’re saying and I have to say that I agree with you.
My brother often says that it frustrates him that he gets lumped in with white males. Now, he’s not complaining that society lumps him in, but rather that some dudes act like privileged, misogynistic d*ckheads and unfortunately, he gets associated with that because of his gender and race.
I think that might be what’s happening here. People don’t want to get lumped in with the racists, so they have a strong need to separate themselves from that.
To be fair, I think people in the south usually get the sh*t-end of the stick because the stereotype of “racist, redneck south” is so prevalent and a lot of southerners want to disassociate from that.
So if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that people denying that anyone in their family used the n-word or not admitting that a family member used it, may be unintentionally erasing the past and that it really just hinders the potential for honest discussion and healing.
Why do I keep checking back on this thread. No good came come of this, but…
@delorb
“The reason most people had that view is because most southerners these days like to pretend that ‘their’ blacks loved how things were. They like to say that ‘they’ weren’t part of the problem.”
I went all the way back to slavery because I don’t know anyone today who refers to black people as “their” blacks. And you switched tenses about 10 times, so it was impossible to understand what time period you were referring to. And I just heard an NPR interview of a man who wrote a book about how Southerners have re-written history so that no one admits their slave owner forefathers were mean to the slaves, but their families slaves were happy, so I guess it was on my mind. I wasn’t talking to you in my second paragraph, I was referring to anon’s remark, so I don’t know why you’re responding to it. I guess that wasn’t clear.
@cubfan – saying the word once a long time ago is the myth people are trying to perpetuate – she did a lot more than that if people would bother to read about it. Jimmy Carter grates on my nerves.
“So if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that people denying that anyone in their family used the n-word or not admitting that a family member used it, may be unintentionally erasing the past and that it really just hinders the potential for honest discussion and healing. ”
Or that THEY used it. And that is exactly what I’m saying.
“I went all the way back to slavery because I don’t know anyone today who refers to black people as “their” blacks.”
There are still some, sadly.
“I guess that wasn’t clear
Oops. There were a lot of responses and I was trying to keep things straight.
Faye,
Thanks for your comment. I, too, am from the South. If I had ever even THOUGHT, treated or labeled someone as “different” based on the color of their skin, their weight, their socio-economic status…my mom would’ve slapped the taste out of my mouth. It was not cool or acceptable in my home. It was so weird to hear how some of my friends belittled others and used slurs around me. If I had ever once participated, just to be part of the “cool” crowd, I’d have been killed and flayed. I come from a reaally small town and it def would’ve gotten back to her. Although I hate to hear my region of the country bashed, I will admit that I had Yankee transplant parents, so maybe that was the difference. That sh*t was NOT cool. 🙁
She is still really popular across the board where I’m at with my parents generation but i am not sure they can internet very well to figure this whole website thing out. (My mom still uses facebook statuses occasionally as a google search bar)
I made a Paula Deen banana pudding last weekend and it did contain enough calories to sustain me until labor day so maybe the world only needs Paula Deen in small doses.
it’s saddens me that so many people still support her, but i am also sure that said people will help her rake in the dough once again.
AHHHHH! Jeez that picture so early in the morning?!? She looks like she has been joker-fied. Bless her heart.
LOL at ‘jokerfied’. Bless her heart indeed.
Well, if she can make a go of it, there’s nothing to stop her, I guess. I have to say that I’ll be disappointed in humanity, though, if it really takes off.
Why not follow the same business plan as Glenn Beck? It’s working for him.
I enjoy some of the cooking shows and watched Paula from time to time. I am from the south, but even I found her grating: as somebody already said, too many “ya’lls”, whenever she said “olive o-all”. it was like fingernails on a chalkboard. The racist thing was handled so badly. Just because you might have SAID word doesn’t mean you would USE the word to insult another. It gets tossed about all the time but her tears and histrionics annoyed. SO, NO, I would not tune in even it was free. I watch Ina Garten. She is wonderful!!
Love Ina.
The way she said olive oil drove me nuts too!
How about Pap-A-rika…
Sorry to burst your bubble about Ina Garten….she is horrible! Didn’t you read about the little six year old make-a-wish child that wanted to cook with Ina and she said “no”….after that, I was done with her….
You aren’t bursting MY bubble. She is NOT horrible. She is a genuinely nice person who shies away from publicity. Friends of mine know her (and Jeffrey) well.
Apparently you did not follow the whole story — Ina did NOT know about the request and the child’s wish was fulfilled when she found out about it.
No, Paula. Sooner or later you’ll slip up again, because, you know, you haven’t changed your spots. Please fold your tent, take your sons, your husband, your brother and go home for good.
Speak the truth, PunkyMomma! And Paula- don’t forget your food felonies! Don’t want your fans to not need the diabetes medicine you shill for!
I think Paula simply cannot forgo the spotlight. Let’s face it, she’s super-rich and nothing will change that. She can’t stand not having all the fans fawn over her. I do think between the diabetes thing and the racism thing, she really took a pounding in the press and most intelligent people of good will don’t want much to do with her now.
I doubt a lot of people are going to pay for the privilege of seeing Paula online. Part of the reason her show took off was because it was on so much and she was largely unavoidable. But now you have to actively seek her out, and I’m not sure how many people will do that.
Why would I pay $7.99 for her recipes when I can google ‘Southern Cooking’ for free? I also can’t get past her caps. They seriously look like corn.
There is an extra “c” in the name – Loser is much more appropriate.
Can’t stand her racist hypocritical a**.
““This is when I’m happiest — one boy on each side.”
Nothing creepy about that!
Ah, let her do her stupid subscription service if she wants to. As long as the Food Network or other venue isn’t giving her a contract, it’s fine. If like-minded people join it’s just self-selection. They can all go off and be racist and marinate in butter and fat or whatever together.
Yes! All of this.
I wish the Food Network, HGTV and Bravo went to a subscription like this. I have given up cable because it costs too much and I don’t watch most channels. There are some shows on Amazon Prime, but not all and I want to watch current seasons.
When people show you who they really are, believe them.
She is a racist. That’s what I see when I see anything about her or her sons. In my eyes, no better than Hitler, Sadam Hussein or Bin Laden.
People, her recipes! Tons of butter, sugar and any other kind of fat she can shove in the bowl or pot. She actually made a bread pudding with Krispy Creme Donuts! True, that wasn’t her original recipe, but she put it on her show, didn’t she?
Everything she cooks will shorten your life considerably. And she’s diabetic and concealed it for a long time.
As far as I’m concerned she’s not much better than Mama June and her “sketti”.
It seems when anyone makes a lot of money they forget what “enough” means. And it seems to me that greed is destroying our society.
Doesn’t matter. A pig is still a pig. And her mouth-breathing fans will still follow her.