Paula Deen Gets Chopped From Food Network After Racial Slur Goes Viral
Paula Deen has been chopped from the Food Network after news of her offensive racial slur, subsequent defense, and late to the table apology went viral. Deen, the Emmy Award-winning Food Network star whose cooking shows — there are currently three — based in Savannah, Georgia, have run on the popular cooking shows network since 1999. The network has stated it will stop airing her shows by the end of the month and will not be renewing her contract.
TMZ published the transcript of a deposition Deen gave in a $1.2 million discrimination lawsuit in which she used and defended her use of the “n” word, and the word “pussy,” along with her incredibly offensive description of her dream event, which included a “true Southern plantation-style theme†wedding with an all-black wait-staff in white coats and black bow ties.
Deen skirted termination last year when she revealed that she had been diagnosed with diabetes years earlier, but did not make the diagnosis public. Worse she ultimately made the revelation public the sme day she announced a lucrative partnership with Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of the diabetes drug Victoza. Diabetes has been linked to the type of cooking Deen promoted.
Deen clearly was in trouble this morning, when she was a no-show for a scheduled interview on the Today Show, and later, when she posted a video apology which was subsequently pulled, and then later replaced with another video apology.
Deen has become such a laughing stock/object of scorn that Twitter has erupted with the hashtag, #PaulaDeenTVShows. Deena and the hashtag are trending right now on the social media site.
“Deen admitted to using the N-word in her life, after a ‘black man’ put a gun to her head at a bank where she was working,” the Daily Beast reported in an extensive examination of the deposition and Deen’s responses:
She said she used it because she “didn’t feel real favorable towards him.†She also said she’s sure she’s used the word since, “but it’s been a very long time†and guessed that she probably used it when quoting “a conversation between blacks.â€
A major point in the suit is that Deen’s brother, Bubba, was accused of looking at pornography at work and showing it to employees. Asked whether she has any problem with such practices, Deen said, “If somebody sent him something and he pulled it up and looked at it, no, I would not persecute him for that.â€
In her deposition, Deen was asked whether the fact that her brother admitted to watching pornography and using the N-word at their restaurant caused her to have concerns about him running their business. She responded, “just because he’s got a sense of humor does not make him a bad person or incapable of running a business.†Questioned as to whether jokes of a sexual or racist nature are in poor taste at a place of work, she responded, “We have all told off-color jokes … Every man I’ve ever come in contact with has one.â€
Jackson said she was put in charge of arrangements for Bubba’s wedding, which Deen apparently said she wanted to have a “true Southern plantation-style theme.†What, pray tell, does that mean? “Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n—-rs 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,†Deen reportedly elaborated. Alas, the wedding Deen envisioned never came to be. “We can’t do that because the media would be on me about that,†she reportedly told Jackson. In her testimony, Deen said that she actually was referencing the “beautiful white jackets with a black bow-tie†she saw the wait staff of “middle-aged black men†wearing at a restaurant she visited “in Tennessee or North Carolina or somewhere.â€
Dean’s sons, also staples on the Food Network, will keep their shows, although no word if she will continue to be a regular guest.
Here’s Deen’s last apology:
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1
Paula Deen’s “shows were part of a small culinary business empire run by Ms. Deen, 66, who has produced numerous cookbooks, lent her name to household products from butter to mattresses, and served as a spokeswoman for Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Smithfield Foods,” the New York Times reports:
She and her sons own and operate The Lady and Sons restaurant in Savannah, Ga. Her magazine “Cooking with Paula Deen,†has a circulation of nearly one million, her Web site says.
In her first video on Friday, posted on YouTube and later removed, Ms. Deen, near tears, said: “I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I’ve done. I want to learn and grow from this. Inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable.â€
In a longer video posted later in the afternoon, she appeared more composed. “Your color of your skin, your religion, your sexual preference does not matter,†she said.
She added: “I was wrong, yes, I’ve worked hard, and I have made mistakes, but that is no excuse and I offer my sincere apology to those that I have hurt, and I hope that you forgive me because this comes from the deepest part of my heart.â€
In what is also a shocking revelation Joe Satran at the Huffington Post writes that last fall he “visited the New York Times headquarters to see Paula Deen talk with Times reporter Kim Severson on a variety of topics.”
When I wrote it up, I focused mostly on her comments about her diabetes, because Deen’s endorsement of the diabetes drug Victoza was still hot news. But I also briefly mentioned a strange segment of the talk in which she talked about Southern attitudes toward race. Today, all this talk of her recent racist comments spurred me to revisit the video of the TimesTalk. It’s really shocking stuff.
The Huffington Post has excerpted the racially charged comments.
And here’s the story from Twitter.
Note: We do not condone Deen’s behavior or comments, not do we condone any form of racism or any other discriminatory behavior.
[View the story “Twitter’s Response To Paula Deen’s Racist Comments” on Storify]
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