Paula Deen has officially become a butter-slathered pariah. No one wants her. Every day brings new revelations about her history of racism, and every day brings a fresh firing for Paula. Last Friday, Paula was fired from the Food Network. Over the weekend, QVC put her on notice (but they didn’t fire her… YET). And now Smithfield is all “Paula who? Butter what?” When your ham endorsement falls, it’s time to pack it in, Paula.
Paula Deen’s racial slur scandal is costing her an endorsement deal with Smithfield, the pork company that sold a ham with her name and face on it.
“Smithfield condemns the use of offensive and discriminatory language and behavior of any kind,” Smithfield says in a statement. “Therefore, we are terminating our partnership with Paula Deen. Smithfield is determined to be an ethical food industry leader and it is important that our values and those of our spokespeople are properly aligned.” Deen’s deal with Smithfield was announced in September 2006.
“Smithfield was a key deal for her empire,” Food Network biographer Allen Salkin tells PEOPLE. “In addition to paying her handsomely as an endorser, the ham company helped her charitable image by delivering truckloads of meat to food banks in her name.”
There is a lot more at stake than Deen’s deal with Smithfield. Her deals with QVC, where she sells cookware, publisher Random House, Inc., which has a book by Deen coming out in October, diabetes drug makers Novo Nordisk and Sears Holdings have all said they’re monitoring the situation. Add Harrah’s Hotels and Casinos to that list. The company, which has Paula Deen Restaurants in their casinos released a statement: “Paula Deen has acknowledged using a racial slur in the past. As a company with a longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, we are deeply disturbed by what we are reading in the press and strongly object to any use of racial epithets. We will continue to monitor the situation.”
Deen’s cookware is also for sale at Target, Walmart, J.C. Penney and Kmart stores.
God, I had forgotten how far-reaching Paula’s empire is/was. And that’s what is more interesting to me, by the way – it’s not that I’m trying to give Paula a pass on her racist behavior (which is more extensive than previously believed), it’s just that I’m fascinated by the business side of this, and the crisis management side of scandals and controversies. But let’s do a summary of some of the other stuff going around:
*In a newly-rediscovered/re-analyzed video from last year, Paula appeared on camera for a discussion with the New York Times (in front of an audience). Paula was asked about how her ancestors were slave owners and she said her great-grandfather killed himself when his slaves were set free, “Between the death of his son and losing all the workers, he went out into his barn and shot himself because he couldn’t deal with those kind of changes…Back then, black folk were such an integral part of our lives. They were like our family, and for that reason we didn’t see ourselves as prejudiced.”
*Meanwhile, Radar has a story from one of the former employees who filed an Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity complaint against Paula. The man’s name is Sheldon J. Ervin, and he was a cook at Paula’s brother’s restaurant – you can read Radar’s full story here. The basic gist is that Paula and Bubba had all of their black employees work special events without real pay – Paula and Bubba “paid” them in beer and alcohol. And Ervin says Paula was obsessed with dressing black people as Antebellum slave-servers, with white dinner jackets and black slacks. And if the men complained or asked to be paid for the work, their jobs were threatened. Ugh. That’s awful.
*And finally, Paula finally decided to get her act together and sit down for an interview. But it’s still awful, because she chose to sit down with Matt Lauer!! That’s going to suck, I’m sorry. Matt Lauer is either going to be super-aggressive and gross, or he’s going to go easy on her and not call her out when she’s being casually racist. But I guess Paula thought she needed to do Today first because she backed out of the Today interview last Friday.
If I could just have a word about the South, about racism and about stereotypes… I think Paula represents a certain kind of older Southern lady – she’s a woman who thinks of herself as “politely prejudiced” or something, but in her mind, she’s not that bad… probably because she knows tons of people who are way more racist. I think Paula’s racism is casual, and for the most part she’s oblivious to her prejudices, and I’m reminded of that “banality of evil” comment. Her “casual racism” is seen more in her speech, in the way she talks about the old South or whatever. The bigger problem (in my mind) is the asinine, bigoted, disrespectful, illegal and awful way she treated her restaurant employees.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She should offer a polite and sincere apology – and then disappear for awhile.
Or forever.
Funny is, that those people always think they are not racist. I really don’t have words for her.
I have just one word for her: Karma.
She does not think she is racist. Listen to what she said in the video, “lost his workers”. No, he did not lose “workers”. His SLAVES were freed. A “worker” implies consent and pay. A SLAVE was not able to choose to work. She clearly doesn’t care for the word “slave”, nor does she want to think that her ancestor OWNED people. So she skirted over the word in favor of a more appealing term, worker. This is a big deal. Those workers were “like family” in her estimation. Essentially she is saying that her grandfather was not racist. He didn’t “own slaves” he had “workers” and they were not ill treated because “they were like family”. This is a very racist view, it is a very skewed view as well. Slaves did not have freedom. They were not guaranteed to live with their families, or children. It was not guaranteed that they would not be beaten, sold, starved, or killed. They did not care if you treated them like family, because they were not free.
+1
+2
Fire one in there for me, Gramps.
Hell yes, I said it. I’ve been all over the place the week. My nephew’s in the hospital. He had to get a spinal tap on Saturday–but he was sedated enough to not know that it had happened. He *should* be in out in a few days, but, you know, he’s seven. He missed his last field trip of the year but blessedly, it was to a place he had visited at some point in the past. So, all he had to say of it was, ‘What a waste of 25 dollars!’. I like to think he gets his very infrequent moments of pissiness from his ol’ auntie. I didn’t teach him to tell people that I’m fourteen because I’m so short, though. No, he thought of that on his own.
You know, some of the tallest people I know are 5’0, so I can’t be a racist!
OMG, THANK YOU. She and her family AND her family’s history are beyond horrible.
I can’t believe in her apology statement she used such poor English! “I IS WHAT I IS” ??? Even the cartoon character Popeye said “I AM WHAT I AM”. Does she sound like an educated person? No excuses for her but maybe this is why she didn’t think she did anything wrong at the time she used a racial slur. It is quite evident by her choice of words describing her unwillingness (she said that too) to change she showed her ignorance and showed the world what a complete ignoramus she is.
Good! Her ill gotten butter gains are slapping her in the face and FOR ONCE people aren’t apologizing for her to hang onto their money.
‘Ill-gotten butter gains’ is going in the book.
She’s definitely paying the price now. I feel so bad for employees who have done nothing wrong and will suffer as collateral damage in the wake of this fiasco.
You know, I actually am kinda racist it turns out, but I would NEVER EVER have done any of the things she did, nor would I ever use the N-word in any casual manner or even THINK about asking black people to dress like plantation help. Geez.
You are kind of racist? What? How does one acknowledge their racism and hold on to it? I hope Paula Deen loses everything so that in 20 years, no matter what happens in the world in the interim, I can reminisce about the good old days when SOMETIMES justice was served even to millionaires.
@Latisse: It is possible. I know someone who acknowledges that he is racist, but struggles with it, because he knows at his core that it is wrong. He spent time in prison and experienced hell on earth and extreme mistreatment from men who just happened to be black and latino. Sometimes it is very difficult to get beyond such things. If you have had people from a different demographic treat you badly, abuse you, it’s hard to let go. This is why some black people have a hard time with being racist as well, because of the terrible social injustices the blacks suffered.
And yes, he has black friends. But still, he struggles with not automatically stereotyping people based on the color of their skin. It doesn’t automatically make him an evil person. Just a flawed human being, like we all are.
Fair enough. I can appreciate that. We all have our demons. Just didn’t understand initially how someone could be kind of racist but your explanation makes sense.
I don’t give Deen a pass because of her age. My mom is that age, she lived right through the civil-rights marches, murders, etc., and she knows it’s just not acceptable to hanker after “a more genteel time.”
Seriously. Deen was a teenager in the 60s. She had plenty of chances to change her attitude and she did not.
(I think we as a culture tend to think that old people all come from some mythical old-fashioned past. Today’s 60-somethings are the baby boomers! They’re the original hippies! If Deen’s a racist, it’s because she chose to be.)
@ Ellen – you are spot on. She’s from the demographic that fought loudly against racial intolerance but chose to continue treating African Americans as second class citizens. Shame on her.
ITA! My mom is in her late 60s now and though she will occasionally come out with an expression or turn of phrase that makes me blink, she’s never EVER used a racial slur. Paula Deen is a racist because she’s a racist, and that’s that.
spot on ellen,there is no excuse at all for this atrocious racist behaviour ,maybe she was southern gal with tons of her grandads slaves but in the 21 century now , she has learnt how to freeze her face wth all the latest medical advances
but she finds it hard to drown her brain with thoughts of equality and practice it ,she is the biggest hypocrite walking the earth ,even that frozen face cant hide that fact
@Ellen – + eleventy billion.
The most dangerous aspect to Deen’s way of thinking lies squarely in her perception that her behavior is acceptable. Also, the idea that any sort of racism could be perceived as “polite” is really alarming to me.
With Deen, I see a very disconcerting disconnect when it comes to the history of racism against black folk in this country. I honestly don’t see any awareness on her part. In fact, she proudly displays a level of complacency, as if slavery was “just the way things were” back then.
There’s something really disturbing about that kind of benign acceptance, almost APPROVAL, of an era that was so horrific and formative for the black American identity. It strikes me as incredibly arrogant and on a personal level, I find it nauseating.
Very well said. I kept trying to wrap my mind around it yesterday and I couldn’t because I couldn’t imagine viewing the world the way she does. It’s almost as if she views blacks as children or worse yet, pets.
Racism at its most insidious.
I am reading the complaint now….
I am just getting started but so far the way she and her brother speak about WOMEN is making my jaw drop! As a woman that started her own business, how can she be so disrespectful of other women?!?!?!?!!
Of course the complaint is assertions unproven, but based on how she tried to skirt the facts in her deposition and that multiple people witnessed a lot of this behavior, I am inclined to believe the complaint.
I bet 90% of the people defending her haven’t read the transcripts. From what I’ve seen, many of her fans simply refuse to read them-gotta love that blissful ignorance.
I mean, at what point do you stop defending the woman, claiming she’s just an “old, ignorant, southern lady” and admit that she’s pretty much just a racist, sexist asshole. It amazes me how quickly people run to the defense of someone just because she’s a celebrity.
Blissful ignorance is the name of the game. Then willful ignorance, then being deliberately obtuse, followed by deflection, false equivalency, counter-attacks, reverse-victimization…if I left anything out you people (oh, but I don’t mean, like, you *you* people) are smart enough to fill in the blanks.
I wish I had more experiences in life that would lead me to be even slightly surprised when stuff like this comes about, but a few aspects of life earn us our cynicism because they never fail to live down to basest fears. It is kind of nice to see people who live with this all life long getting so upset about it, since my automatic first reaction is ‘Oh, someone hates black people and that person has a lynch mob *ahem* of support, pass the salt’.
I’m not American and only sort of vaguely knew that Paula Deen=cooking. Or something. But this age-apology reminds me of how we sometimes treat elderly people here in Germany when it comes to WWII. “Oh, just let it slide. She was raised this way, what can you do. She’s in her 80’s.”
It’s hard to start getting angry with a 90-year-old woman (I’ve been in that position) who seems to have romanticized certain aspects of the good old days (not necessarily THAT time but the 50’s and 60’s were pretty crusty and awful as well). You feel like a bully. And then there’s the killer “Not everything was bad during THAT time.” Um, yes it was. Shut up.
Those are two different issues on two different continents but in general, the age apology should die. Times change and if you cannot manage to adjust over freakin’ decades, well that’s on you then. There is no apology for racism. Period.
@little,
My father is 86, (was in WWII) and he grew up in a time when it was very uncommon for blacks and whites to date, let alone have children. We were talking the other day about gay marriage. He told me that although he would never date a man, (I found this hysterical) he thought he had better get with the times and start supporting gay marriage. Then he said he wasn’t certain if he could support inter-racial marriage because he worried that the children would be bullied in school. I explained to him that times had changed in schools and in society and it was easier than it had been. Not perfect, but better. He was in full support then.
You can teach the elderly “new tricks” If they want to learn. Some just want to live in the past. Good luck!
@Elle Kay
That’s the thing…age has nothing to do with beliefs or ideals. I have a ninety year old neighbor who an engineer during WW2, and I have never heard anything remotely racist come out of his mouth in front of me….despite the fact that I look white.
We live in a very “segregated” area i.e. there are two black families in my town. The only reason any other race besides white people are here is because I live right by Michigan Tech.
Mr. Caspary is old, but he is a very nice man…no fool. Heck, his grandson in law is black and he LOVES him. He’s never said anything racist or intolerant about anyone, even if he doesn’t agree with them. So I don’t get how anyone can say it’s part of the times that they grew up in.
Heck, I could easily become racist against white people if we’re going to go off experiences with other races.
Exactly.
My dad is in his 70’s and thinks it’s the most outrageous thing that even Germany is still so far behind when it comes to gay rights. He is not perfect and we fight all the time because he does hold some seriously questionable views on Muslims, probably because he’s Greek and quite prejudiced against Turks. But he’s not so stubborn that he won’t change. The situation in Turkey and extensive coverage over here is showing him an image of the country he didn’t know before. So at least he’s willing to be open. I’ve always refused to let his comments slide just because I know why he thought like that.
People aren’t perfect and we all say or do things that aren’t okay. But hopefully not on THIS effin’ level. There’s no excuse.
And btw, on a lighter (ha!) note, what is all this talk about butter? Is the woman obsessed with it?
@Elle Kaye: That’s too adorable about your 86 year old father saying he’d never date a man. (“Dad, gay men everywhere just felt a twinge of heartbreak.”) But he’s going to start supporting gay marriage and interracial marriage too, now that he understands what it’s all about. Way to go!
Exactly! She was a young adult during the civil rights revolution. All this bs about the ‘old south’ is ridiculous. Slavery was abolished long before she was born. She’s an ignorant, white, elitist with a superiority complex. Money and a big toothy grin doesn’t make it funny hunnie.
Thanks Ellen, Paula is an embarrassment to baby boomers who like myself were activists (still am) during the 60’s – now. Paula is 2 years older than I am. She lived through the entire civil rights movement which was televised. SMH
You are dead on about it being weird how so many folks seem to view her age as some ‘well, it was another time’. Look, my mom & dad are that age. Dad marched his narrow white butt right alongside a lot of other folks because even at ‘that time’ he knew it was wrong. (one of the big reasons he first went into the Marines and then on to the FBI – he had a friend get killed early on and racism of any kind makes him… well. Frankly, violent.) My grand fathers on both sides could be safely called rednecks – and they would have thrashed any and all of their kids, the neighbor’s kids, heck – the neighbors if they heard that crap. Wrong is wrong and it’s not time based or age passed. Being a ‘certain’ age or from a ‘certain’ place doesn’t make it less morally rank.
Evil is evil and if you try and imply that a sugarsweet accent and a big pair of wide eyes means they couldn’t possibly be horrible people really – folks are fooling themselves. Evil doesn’t always march around town in a white sheet screaming, and there is something to be said for that kind of evil. It’s open about it. You can see it at a hundred yards and deal with it toe to toe. Paula Deen is the far more insidious kind that honestly scares me more.
I heartily agree with Ellen, Lady MNTL, LadyMary, and TheOriginalKitten. I’m 72, white, grew up in the So. and had Ms. Deen’s number the first time I ever saw her on TV….it was instant dislike. She was very ‘transparent’ to me and pretty much personified everything I disliked about phony, cute-sy wide-eyed southern women, especially when they slathered every word with l-o-n-g drawn out ‘suth-en’ exaggerated expressions that they mistakenly thought would make everyone weak in the knees. I thought I would actually puke when I started seeing her teeth and eyes on everything from furniture, books, pet apparel, cookware, pies, ingredients, spices, ad-nauseatum, etc., etc., etc. I’ve gone through stores saying things under my breath like “I wonder when I’ll see that wide-eyed deer-in-the-headlights look on a pack of frigging rubbers, or maybe her own brand of panty shields”. I’ve even said my own personal little prayer – “Lord if it’s going to be like this from now on and I have to see that face from here on out….then take me now”‘. Give me a break! And it makes me ill to think that she will be forgiven and tolerated. She’s made her millions, maybe she had a hot shot money manager accountant that helped her invest enough wisely so she can live out her old age and we won’t (I rephrase-I WON’T) have to here that disgusting phony “Hi-i-i Ya-a-ll” ever again. Exit left Paula, and while you’re at it….take old “Bubba” with you. The world has had enough Bubba’s and I’m pretty sure…enough of you!
Wow. This woman. There really is no going back at this point is there.
that condescending casual tone of her speech is appalling. She is not an intelligent woman, also.
Good. I have no problem and don’t feel bad about her losing all of endorsements deal.
I’d say the “casual racism” and the “bigger problem” of how she treats her employees are not unrelated! The one opens the door to the other. The moment you start discounting other people’s experiences, reality, validity, then you just start sliding down that slippery slope till you hit the bottom. In Paula’s case, on her ass!
Totally. That’s exactly what I was thinking when I was reading.
The “casual racism” is the antecedent that led to the way she treated her employees.
Exactly!!
Totally agree. I think “casual racism” leads to ill treatment based on race, but even more sinisterly, it somehow lulls society into thinking that racial divides don’t exist in our culture anymore. Ok, so people aren’t having food slapped out of their hands and being forced to eat it off the ground a la Jesse Owens these days, but that DOES NOT mean that racism isn’t a reality. I think casual racism is more dangerous than outright racism because people will try to justify it or try to make sense out of it simply because it’s not so extreme as it once was.
when i worked in restaurants, there were several times we were expected to work w/o pay
also, there were times when our times cards were altered after the fact to reduce our hours
this wasnt just one place. i hope we can move past her language eventually and talk about all of the other charges because i hope it is a warning to all of the other restaurant owners and managers out there with similar practices
Great point, TXmom.
I read the entire deposition yesterday…and she tries to feign ignorance about the way her business was run. However, she was repeatedly told by business partners, general managers, other employees, an outside evaluation firm, etc. that her brother was running the business in an unethical manner (“keep the staff up front light”).
The evaluation firm straight out told her that employees had enough evidence to sue them for employment violations. But Paula pretends to be uninvolved and unresponsible for the way HER company was run.
She has been playing the “golly gee” thing to the hilt, trying to dodge responsbility for her own actions as a business owner and employer. If she and her brother said these things is private, there would be nothing to sue her for. But this is how she conducted herself in front of EMPLOYEES.
@ Tiffany
Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to read the entire deposition. Your summary has given me new information about Deen’s behavior and level of accountability.
You’re welcome! I hate reading the media’s interpretation of things…usually other things stick out to me than what sticks out to them! 🙂
I also find her DEPLORABLE for telling employees to use separate restrooms, and for forcing them to “staff” HER parties on their days off and paying them in booze!
“forcing them to “staff” HER parties on their days off and paying them in booze!”
Yeah, not paying employees wages while making them work for you is pretty illegal!
I think it is hysterical that she got nailed twice by a ham; first being hit in the face with one a couple years back and now she’s hit with a ham company dropping her like a bad habit. Love it. That mouth of hers got her into trouble. Now she has to pay the price.
Stupid people..WHY ALL THE COMPLAINTS NOW?Why didn’t they come forward SOONER?But anyways..Thé truth is always to big to hide.
Sometimes people are afraid to come forward, especially when their jobs are at risk and the person they’d be accusing is very powerful and well-liked. The lawsuit and subsequent bad publicity made the environment easier for people to reveal the truth.
exactly.
The man filed the complaint when it happened, he didn’t wait. Sadly, no one did anything about it then. They probably didn’t believe him. I bet they do now.
The deposition makes it clear that there were several EOC claims filed by employees. The reason we are only hearing about them now is because the media only decided to start covering them now.
Most likely because of job insecurity in the terrible economy for the past 5 years. People will take a lot of crap to support their kids, especially if they know they have to rely on service jobs that most people could just fall back on.
Just curious – does anyone know what a diabetes drug maker has to do with Paula Deen’s empire? Seems a little ironic.
She’s had diabetes for years and kept it quiet while pushing her deep fried BS. Until she got a big endorsement from Ortho Novowhatever.
In addition to all stated above, there is still the issue that Paula Deen does not know how to conduct herself in public–her conduct is both offensive and embarrassing. She also sexualizes everything. On “The Next Food Network Star” last Sunday night, Alton Brown warned one of the contestants about being too sexual.
Paula Deen is a VILE human being parading as something she is NOT.
“Casual racists” are worse than full-blown ones and can do more damage because they hide their disdain well, except for in the “proper” company. And they pass that legacy right on down to the next generation they raise, whose vast wealth precludes others from ever getting out from under their imperious thumbs. You wonder why Affirmative Action was put in place? Do you also wonder why the nostalgic, closeted good-ole boyz (and “ladies”) have wanted to do away with it and have fought for its reversal since the day it was enacted last century, despite the fact that the country continues to move backward in terms of “racial” equality? Ham-head doesn’t get a pass. Kaiser needs to rethink her assessment.
couldn’t agree more with you. and those are the same people who continue to fight affirmative action, insisting that somehow, magically, we live in a “post-racial america” because “look, we have a black president”. the extent of people’s ignorance, willful or not, blows my mind.
Post this comment in the Kate Gosselin thread, please! Can’t believe the stupidity over there. Paula’s getting raked over the coals (rightfully), and Kate gets carte blanche. They’re casual racists, but somehow it’s okay for Kate, because she’s not Southern.
I’ll do my best.
So true because they often justify ‘racism’ because of circumstances. One example, but rappers use the word, so why is it so bad for this lady says it? Believing your ancestors owned slave because they just didn’t know better and they needed workers. So many excuses to choose from without a second thought given. My parents called it drive by racism and its the worst. Prefer for someone to be openly racist, at least you know they openly hate and have a choice to not associate with them. Closeted racists, you don’t get the choice because they mask it and keep it in their heart. Plus, they’re often more bull headed than open racists. …but I’m not racist. Sometimes they honestly believe their racists views are OK. The open racist will tell you they’re racists without hiding behind politeness.
I think the Today show is a bad idea. From a P.R. perspective, her best bet is to apologize and slink away for a while. From a personal standpoint, I’m glad she’s actually seeing consequences for her actions. I just wish we saw that more often in life.
Again, I really have to object to these “a certain type of Southern woman” characterizations because 1) they’re really offensive to the many, may I say the majority of Southern women who are NOT vile racists and 2) it sort of offers a soft-shoe excuse for Paula. As others have said here, Paula is not some ancient crone – she is in her 60’s and was a teenager during the civil rights era. So she really should know better. Her age and geographic location are no excuse. There are racists and bigots in every region.
Thank you, Faye. Racism exists everywhere. I am a southerner and I can assure you that the vast majority of southerners, even those over 60, do not speak or act anything like Paula Deen. The minority who do are matched by a minority of northerners, midwesterners, etc. who are racist. Actually I’ve never met anyone who does the “polite racism” or whatever kind of sugarcoating Deen puts on it. She’s in a class by herself. All I’m saying is, don’t put that on the south. Racism exists, and I’d say much of it comes not from people perpetuating it, but from people failing to fight against it at higher levels, such as in institutions such as education and government.
Smithfield was just acquired by a company in China. Firing Paula Deen was just an opportunity to shuffle the deck & let the new Parent company create the messaging they want. It’s much less noble than Smithfield would like you to think.
Smithfield is hardly a bastion of humanity and equality in the work place. Had they kept PD when all else were dumping her, their atrocious treatment of humans, animals and the environment would have been under the microscope.
This. Smithfield is the worst.
I agree! Smithfield sucks and were just bought by a Chinese company. How long until those jobs go oversees too?
I love how she called her great-grandfather’s SLAVES ‘workers’. They were people OWNED by someone else. She acts like it’s the North’s fault he killed himself.
It is so incredibly telling. I can completely see how that way of thinking would affect how she treats her employees.
Property = Worker = Restaurant Employee
Restaurant Worker = Pay in Beer
EXACTLY! No they weren’t “workers”-they were SLAVES, Paula.
“They were like our family, and for that reason we didn’t see ourselves as prejudiced.”
I’ll bet you everything I own that those slaves did NOT see their owners as “family”.
Yeezus. I just can’t with her. Go far, far away, Prejudiced Paula.
Our family lives in California. We’ve got relatives in N. Carolina and Virginia and omg the N word is alive and well – but hey, they’re all in church 3-5 days a week. Explain THAT one to me someone, please. AND…… they actually referred to us as “Northerners”!
They do NOT like California.
She’s souther, she’s racist and as a southern woman she disqusts me.
My question is didn’t she just break about 100 labor laws? I wonder if they will prosecute for for that?
Of course she broke labor laws. That is what the law suit is all about. Her use of the “N” word is just something that came out in transcript, it is not necessarily the reason for the lawsuit, however. I must say, folks, that I have a set of her pots and pans – and I love them. Nicest pots and pans I have ever had. Wonder if they will go on sale?
Apologize and then leave the national stage.
I bet she’ll be able to keep her restaurants and make money on them. But she’s probably not hurting for cash, anyway.
Her personal attitudes – as backward and vile as they are – are between herself and those around her. However, if it’s true that she was trying to pay employees in beer when they were on the clock – that’s illegal and discriminatory. And if she was bringing race into her hiring/firing/assignment decisions at work, that’s illegal and discriminatory.
She just doesn’t seem to get that.
If I were from the south I would be mortified to be associated regionally with her.
At this point i’d just call her Paula re-Deem. she’s doomed. finito. kaput. nada.
About this Old South thing. I was raised on a farm in rural Mississippi. I also lived in Boston for over 15 years, and believe me, there is as much if not more racial prejudice in New England as the South – it is just concealed in a different way and sounds more acceptable without a drawl. In my experience, you are a lot more likely to see a black professional in Dixie than in Cambridge, Mass.
My family is from A tiny town in mission as well and when I tell u the town is still segregated… No not lawfully but they just seem to be stuck in the per civil rights era the black still live on the other side of the tracks and last time I visited I went to the ” white” grocery store and was to,d my son was one of the prettiest little colored babies they’d ever seen” the deep south still, has such a lo g way to go so sad
You might very well be right. But I also need someone to explain to me why people say racism doesn’t exist anymore or that race shouldn’t be a factor in employment (or academic) decisions, even though racism is present everywhere and continues to impact black people in these insidious ways?
As long as stereotypes exist, we will be all held back. Far too many people perpetuate stereotypes and use slurs every single day and don’t even think about it. The use of terms like hillbilly, dumb jock, guido, redneck, Yankee, n1 gger, dumb blonde, bible thumper, etc., these all portray a group of people in a negative light. It degrades them and dehumanizes them These words aren’t funny. They aren’t acceptable.
Elle Kay, you are so right! Sterotyping people is a lazy way to comfortably get through life, isn’t it? All liberals are this way, all conservatives are that way. This race does this, that race does that. Doesn’t require you to think critically, to accept people are their own merit, acknowledge the good or bad in an individual separate from their skin color of political persuasion.
Don’t forget “gypped” – meaning, robbed by Gypsies. This kind of thing is insidious and I always try to be aware of the true meaning of what I am saying.
“Rule of Thumb” is another one I just learned – it recalls a law that a man was allowed to beat his wife but only with a stick the diameter of his thumb or less. YUCK! Not saying THAT any more!
Jesse, you have lived in two areas, and based on that, you say that there is more racism in New England? Because of your experience in Boston? I moved to a town in Rhode Island and found my neighbors to be unfriendly, even wary. I asked why. They admitted they didn’t like strangers. That didn’t mean that I then assumed ALL people in New England were unfriendly, because I had no idea. You shouldn’t stereotype.
Racism isn’t more palatable if it is “said without a drawl”. It is never acceptable.
^^This
Rhode Island is a strange, strange place. I’m a New Englander and I’ve lived in RI…it’s like another planet.
I have to say, Kitty, I moved. There are some beautiful places there, but it just wasn’t the place for me.
I was impressed with the customer service, though. It seemed to be great no matter where I went.
lol, I can back this up – my family moved from Key West, Florida (“Flawda”) to a little town in Rhode Island and a few of the neighbors and local backyard farmer thought we were evil southerners. My over the top friendly mother just kept working on him and one day he finally let her have his turnip greens. (He was actually throwing them away in favor of the turnips!)
I would agree that the north is no better than the south but you should have used a town besides Cambridge to illustrate your point. Maybe try Lowell or Brockton…
Also, I don’t agree that the south is lass racist than the north–if that was the point of your comment.
I’m also in agreement with Jesse’s observations. I grew up in a really nice town in northern Connecticut. The type of latent racism I experienced was mind boggling (I’m now 40). We were not new moves to the area: my maternal grandparents emigrated from the South before WWII and my paternal great grandparents emigrated from the South before WWI. For a great look at growing up in CT in the 1980’s, check out Sheff vs O’Neill – yep, CT thought Brown v. Board really didn’t apply. I was lucky – I managed to get a scholarship to a boarding school just to get the heck out of there, but then ended up going to university outside of Boston where my experience was much like that in CT. My relatives from GA and AL were always appalled when I’d tell them about what I experienced up North. In all fairness, I never lived in GA or AL – just had long visits. Maybe that didn’t give me a real feel for the situation, but it definitely seemed more positive to me.
As for my feelings about the Paula Deen situation, I firmly believe that the First Amendment protects your right to be an idiot. As such, if she wants to wax poetic about the antebellum South, then she is free to do so; just as I am free to think she is a vile, deluded creature who knowingly sold sickness to her fans (who could think that much butter was EVER a good thing…). But her private leanings are simply not acceptable in the workplace. I’ve worked at several firms with partners who we all knew are raging bigots – but they were capable of keeping it out of the office and so there were no problems. Clearly, Ms. Deen was not capable of the same.
I believe there is racism everywhere and that it manifests itself in different ways.
The reason the “old south” is being discussed in relation to this situation is because Paula Deen is saying her attitudes were formed from that region, and she has defenders stating that she is who is and does what she does (sometimes illegally) because of her southern background and date of birth. I don’t think most people mean to trash the entire region and all the people within it.
If Paula Deen had been from Connecticut, or Massachusetts, or New Hampshire, and tried to explain her discriminatory employment practices away by saying she was brought up as an old New Englander and well, that’s just how they did things there, that, too, would be appalling.
I’m sorry, but no. I grew up in Cambridge and, for example, my high school had students from over 80 countries attending. It was talked about and celebrated. And there were/are plenty of black professionals here (including myself), so maybe you just didn’t know where to look or didn’t have your eyes open. I’m not saying MA is perfect – obviously not – but I’m proud to say I’m from the first state to legalize gay marriage and a host of other progressive things.
…and it should be pointed out that Cambridge has a gay female mayor.
MA did vote for a black governor and a black president each of the last two terms, also. Which of those Southern states can say the same?
Sadly racism is everywhere (as is sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, etc.). It takes time for attitudes to change, and for old prejudices to become unacceptable. There is change happening on all fronts. But it takes people willing to stand up and say “hey, this is wrong.”
This woman needs to take her artery clogging foods and go away. Even if she started/continues “apology tour” I personally would see it as being fake as f-ck. How can she give a proper apology when she can’t even figure out how her comments/treatment is offensive?
Well frankly the writer does sound like they are trying to give Paula a pass no matter how many times she tries to convince otherwise. Also this lady is not 200 years old that has been stuck in the South the whole time.So there is no excuse for her backwards behavior and mindset. Further more she is rich and famous and has traveled and been exposed to the ‘modern’ world and times have clearly changed.
I was coming here to say exactly what CB said minding think she has that I wanna go lynching black people mentality I think she’s one of those people that had like the black housekeeper that of course she would never eat with but she might ask about her little colored babies and maybe say they could have the leftovers or her children’s old clothes like “see I’m kind to black people” and even though I don’t excuse that mentality either I might be actually feeling sorry fornthemwoman because at this point nothing she says or does in the for, of contrition will be accepted.
What? Seriously… Punctuate.
LOL
How is that ok? It’s still racist and condescending.
I wasn’t saying its okay I am saying I think that’s her mindset that she doesn’t in any way think she wrong she sees it as just par for the course. When I said I’m starting to feel sorry for her I’m like I know she’s sitting at home thinking “god how can it get worse” it’s just one blow after the next. I don’t condone her behavior at all but I’m like wow the storm is rolling in hard and fast on this lady
I get what you are saying…but I think she is being disingenuous when she acts like she didn’t know that she was crossing some serious lines.
In the deposition, she tries to act like she doesn’t remember things, conversations, etc. But there are multiple witnesses for every offense. She was repeatedly told by her business parter, the general manager, an outside firm, etc. that her brother was discriminating against employees, sexually harassing them, etc. I just don’t buy it.
@seen ure right I typed that horribly lol
Ps my grandmother was one of those housekeepers and my mother grew up wearing those hand me downs that’s why I can speak on that topic . I totally believe Paula Deen is racist I was making an observation on her mentality which is the mentality of many old white women here in the Deep South they don’t believe they are being racist because even though they still look down on blacks and feel superior they don’t outwardly express hate.
how is there MORE to this awful story? what a terrible woman. i’m glad that her “behavior” isn’t being tolerated by the public and by the people whom she represents. or, rather, whom she used to represent. ha!
“i’m glad that her “behavior” isn’t being tolerated by the public”
I agree! It is like, if it wasn’t clear before, it should be abundantly clear now:
It is not acceptable to treat other human beings like that.
Anthony Bourdain must be rolling on the floor with laughter
This is isn’t a woman living in some back-woods shack.
She’s a national media figure with several businesses, a TV show and a book deal. Her awe-shucks I didn’t know better tact is not going to cut it. She really should STFU till she actually learns something.
Ummm, I’m sorry, but when did slave owners regard their unpaid labourers as “family”? This sounds like a poorly-veiled attempt at defending slave ownership in general, and while I don’t doubt that the loss of a child is excruciatingly painful, being depressed because your non-biological “family” were FREE to pursue their own destiny sounds like a pile of horse pucky IMHO.
You’re family when we need unpaid labor.
i’ve heard this argument many times before from people who attempt to whitewash slave ownership (like it’s possible to whitewash such atrocities). it’s disgusting.
This.All.Day. If they were so loving then why didn’t any of ‘their workers’ stay?
Exactly! If it was the situation she described, I’d think her great grandfather would have said, “Now that you’re free to pursue whatever you like, I’d like to offer to pay you for your labor.” And his “workers” would have been like, “You’re like family, of course we’ll stay on with this nice salary you’re offering.” No wait, like family means her great-grandfather should have divided his land and assets in half and given half to his unpaid laborers. That would have fit. But no, they obviously ran off as soon as they could. Doesn’t sound like he treated them so well.
The ancestor grandfather did pay the workers, as is documented in a letter he sent in order to get off the hook for disobeying the law after slavery ended. This is from the Ancestry.com revelatory program on which Deen’s ancestry is used.
You can find it on line.
As horrible as all of this is, I can’t believe anyone stuck by her after the diabetes scam. This scandal shows how ignorant she really is, but the whole diabetes thing was done willfully and with calculation.
yeah that entire thing was infuriating. her shilling diabetes-creating dishes AND the medication for diabetes. so gross. i can’t believe people gave her a pass for that.
Hopefully it works this time. Here is the phone number for Novo Nordisk, the diabetes company sponsoring Deen (800-727-6500). I think one of the most horrible things about this story is that sick people will be forced to subsidize her racism.
Thanks, Jane. I just got off the phone. 8 minutes on hold while they played speeches about what a great company they are, how they care SO MUCH about “social responsibility” and helping people.
So when I got through, I mentioned the phrase “social responsibility” and after politely listening while the phone lady read me their prepared statement about “monitoring the trial” I brought it up again. It’s already irresponsible to use her as a spokesperson for freakin diabetes given her cooking, and now this, and they want to “monitor” the situation?
All that tells me is that Paula’s lawyers put an early termination clause in her contract and NN doesn’t want to pay the penalty. Probably because they have some monopoly on their particular drug so they think they don’t have to care.
Anyway, it’s BS and I appreciate you posting the # so I could give them a piece of my mind.
Reallllly? Do you have nothing else better to do? Drug companies do way worse things than worrying about a spokesperson. You need a better hobby.
@ Be Real
Activism for change includes contacting companies. It’s not a ‘hobby.’
I’m glad that she is losing deals over this. It’s sad and disgusting that she was allowed to get away with it for this long. You have to hit people were it counts and that’s in the pockets. Honestly I think the only thing she’ll learn from this is to be more careful about what she says, not the fact that is wrong. Smh.. …
+1
I wonder if, 50 years down the road, we’ll do the same thing to older celebrities who may have done or said something horrible towards the LGBTQ community in their pasts that later resurfaces.
If they hire those LGBTQ people and make them wear pink triangles for fun and pay them less, I hope we do.
Pay them in beer – no less.
Spot on comment.
Right? People can say racist/homophobic things in their private life all they want, but once it leaks into the workplace then they will have to face some consequences. Public figures are also held to a higher standard.
Tea, the problem here is that these aren’t comments from her past, these are comments she has made just recently.
These are comments of ignorance. True ignorance. She finds no fault with watching porn at work. She has no problem calling a young, underage worker a “piece of p*ssy” She doesn’t understand that ethnic jokes are offensive.
Her mind does not work like the minds of most people. She really doesn’t think she has done anything wrong. I don’t know how she has lived through this century and not picked up on the verbal or visual cues that would have shown her that she was on the wrong path. I just don’t think she wants to see it. Or she can’t It is just baffling to me.
@polite, i hope we do.
Food Network had to know the true nature of this woman. She does very little to hide it. I also think they knew about her diabetes and probably told her to keep it a secret. After all, the episodes had already been filmed, and if she had come out, they would have to re-shoot. That would have cost the Network money. They couldn’t have that. And they probably went after the diabetes drug maker as well.
I’m not excusing this woman. There is no excuse. But the Food Network is wiping it hands as if it knew nothing, and you know this cannot be the case. This woman has no filter. We have seen this now. And the shows producers and camera crew have been around her for years. They knew. They hid it to make their money. And now they will take their money and run.
And they shouldn’t get away with pretending they didn’t know.
I don’t think it’s a Southern problem but more of a “good ol’ boy” problem.
I’m genuinely confused by the term ‘casual racist’. In my mind, you are either racist or you aren’t. And she most certainly acted on her bigotry which transforms the ‘casual’ aspect to active. She and her brother were/are active racists and I suspect it would only come across as banal to people not being discriminated against.
I finally got around to reading the original complaint yesterday and was shocked. Beyond the horrific racism, the sexism the complainant faced was extreme. Her bonuses were revoked because she got a divorce (a sin!). She was told that she would never go any higher because Paula’s sons wouldn’t take orders from a woman. When she asked what was happening with a human resources policy, she was handed an evangelical book about how women should be subservient to men. Wow. Wow. Wow.
edited to add: Oh! And the manager of Lady & Sons regularly called a kitchen worker ‘my little monkey’. The description about how Paula gave him a slap on the wrist but didn’t really want to do even that turned my stomach.
And let’s not forget that, when Jackson started turning the place around despite Bubba’s plunder of the cash register, they starting calling her ‘their little Jew girl’. Who knows, they might have thought it was a compliment.
This family just gives me the heebie-jeebies! This is the kind of horror/ignorance you see in a sy-fy movie, right before the maniacal-masked family hacks up the young people and cooks them for dinner!
Gah! I forgot about that. What vile people.
I take casual in that context to mean insidious. It’s so internalized that they make remarks easily and often. Like if you just met someone and said, “You’re so beautiful, where are you from?” is ‘casual’ because you’re dropping it into the conversation when it doesn’t need to even be a question. You’re not directly insulting them, but it is an insult. I guess it doesn’t totally because Paula made a direct statement, but she still did it with that ease.
Why don’t her eyes crinkle and squint when she smiles?
She shows both rows of teeth (often – although not always – a telltale sign of a false smile). Her eyes remain wide open and dead.
Talk about an insincere facial expression.
“Black people were like part of the family”
The part that slept in the shed and we sold their babies part?
Or the part that they beat?
I wish she was more specific!
Part of the family, like pets…that you own.
The more endorsements she loses and the more stories that come out, the more and more support she gets from people who are not “casual racists” but full blown racists. The facebook page made to support her is creeping towards 400,000 likes. I only saw it because one of my facebook friends shared it. Some of the comments are so idiotic and vile. The bottom line is, in the workplace you have to watch how you say and act. Be a racist idiot at home, but don’t bring that to work. Paula is also a public figure, which means she has to be extra careful. My husband has a friend who is a complete a-hole, this guy said the n-word at work and was brought up before a disciplinary panel and fired. Instead of learning a lesson, the guy blamed the PC left, Obama etc and hired a lawyer to sue his employer for discrimination because one of his bosses is black (that all is still going on). That is why all these comments of support anger me so much. Spare me the “we all make mistakes”, “don’t let her past define her” “we have all said something like that”, actions like that result in consequences and Ms. Paula is sure facing the music!
I am amazed at the excuses people can make for her mindset. I suppose it helps them to sleep at night. That she has almost 500k supporters is frightening to me. I can only hope they are people who eat her food faithfully.
There’s probably a ton of sock puppets, as these things usually go on the net.
What you said about the guy at your husbands work, that reminds me of something that my uncle went through.
My uncle lives in Houston,Texas and works for an airline in one of the towers. There was a new employee that was blatantly looking up racist websites, you know stuff about the KKK, and so on….and he was all confused when my uncle reported him to hr.
This also reminds me of his wife’s tenant. My aunt is Mexican, and before they got married she lived in her own house. Now she rents it out, and one day my uncle went to go get the rent from the woman. The woman was acting weird around him, especially when he told her that he was the owner’s husband.
So when he got home he told my aunt that the woman was acting weird….she said it was because the last time my aunt went to go get the rent, the woman spent most of the time telling her that she couldn’t stand black people.
And when my aunt and uncle met, my aunt was green. She had just learned how to speak English, and one day she asked him how many kids he had. He had one. She then said “Oh, really? I heard black people have a lot of kids”
When my uncle told me that I said really? He laughed and said she was so green that she didn’t know she was supposed to say that. There are just tons of racists in all the colors of the rainbow.
It’s time to move on..
She needs to get on that apology tour and disappear like you said. her smarter move would be to sell her restaurants or move them to a management team where she is the silent partner and they handle the day to day. Am i the only one who thinks it would be interesting for her to sit down with descendants of her grandfathers plantation and discuss the generational after affects of being “owned” by her family? Maybe get an education. Lisa ling would be awesome for the job.
I have lived in new england, in the pacific NW and in the deep south and racism is alive and well everywhere. I think in the south people are simply more open about it. on the plus side of that, at least in the south I know who to avoid.
as for paula deen, she can lose every endorsement deal she has and still not want for money. i guarantee she will write a book about all this and make even more money.
I read the entire 33 page complaint against them. As someone who is currently named in a work related lawsuit I will say that literally they can put anything they want in there. Yes her own deposition is damning as well but the complaint is way worse and there’s no way to know what is/is not true until after the trial.
True. But the complaint also states again and again that there were witnesses and names who and/or what (a vendor, other staff, head of a specific charity, etc.) they were. The deposition makes it clear that statements were gathered from many of those witnesses. And, for at least one charge (assault of the worker), the deposition indicates that there is video evidence corroborating the description included in the complaint.
Why do some of the companies say we will monitor the situation? I don’t get it, what is there to monitor. I mean if she didn’t admit to using racial slurs I get that statement, but when she admits to it there is nothing to monitor.
I feel like that’s such a cop-out. Like they’re waiting to see the response from their patrons-will it all blow over or will people start to boycott their goods?
Cowardly as hell if you ask me.
I agree. I’m puzzled by QVC “putting her on notice.” To do what? It doesn’t matter what she says now—she has cooked her own goose I mean ham.
If QVC doesn’t dump her buttered ass after this, I am never buying another LED color-changing non-flame candle….
they have a ton of PD products in the warehouses they already paid for. they may not have her on again, but they will have to sell the stock they have. i guess they dont want to be hypocritical and say we are cutting all ties when they will still be selling her crap for a while.
This picture of her is slightly less horrifying than the last two, but this crazy chick now makes more appearances on this site than Lilo and the duchess combined. ACK.
I am from the South and my family is so racially predjudiced I’m ashamed of them. I grew up hearing every racial slur under the sun but in my early teens it became clear to me how wrong that was. I resolved to teach my future child(ren) to never judge another human based on skin color, monetary background or how they were dressed. I raised my son that way and I am proud of him. I no longer have contact with my former family and am happier that way.
I remember in my late teens I said to my mother that I would like to adopt a Korean or Vietnamese child–from the furor and scorn that was heaped on me (my stepfather and mother said they’d never accept a c***k for a grandchild) I lost all respect for them. My stepdad had 2 favorite shows when I was growing up; The Jeffersons and Sandford & Son. I think he viewed African-Americans as animals who could amuse people. Vile and disgusting.
I think my point is, even if Paula Deen was raised to be racist she could have chosen to be tolerant at any point in time. It speaks volumes about her character that she hasn’t.
“Paula Deen’s racial slur scandal is costing her an endorsement deal with Smithfield, the pork company that sold a ham with her name and face on it.”
This is humorous to me, because there is a character in my novel who is called “Hamface” behind his back. This is my new nickname for Paula. Hamface Deen.
Anyhow, this just keeps getting more disgusting, right? I mean, I heard a racist call her racist. That’s pretty bad. I’m running out of words for this. She’s just appalling, and I’m sure we don’t know the half of it. The nauseating thing is her unwitting demeanor (act?) that she’s actually being polite, along with the LITERAL SEGREGATION.
Good news, though. Under public pressure, my local Targets and Walmarts reportedly pulled all her cookware.
U know I was hesitant to respond about this…
Because everybody has a little racism in them it doesn’t have to be about colour at all..
I don’t condone what Paula has done but her mindset makes me want to question and inquire a lot..
People can’t be that surprised of her behaviour- People act like she the only one that shows racism in public!!
Again I don’t condone it but I’m not surprised
Race, unlike ‘ethnicity’, specifically refers to a person’s physical appearance (the color of their skin). Ergo, racism is specifically related to a person’s physical appearance.
No, we don’t all have a little racism in us.
And so what? Just because other people are vile in public this particular public figure should get a pass for creating a blatantly hostile workplace for minorities and women? When Mel Gibson was vile, the world piled on him hugely – and many have never forgiven him.
Don’t get Ur underwear bunched up…
I didn’t say she gets a pass.. Where does it say I condone her behaviour- I SAID I DON’T CONDONE-
That type of mentality is learned and I stand by what I say because racism isn’t strictly about Colour…
I will say Majority have sort of thought of racism even if they don’t want to admit it!!
Paula was taught that kind of behaviour whether its parents, grandparents, or great grand parents.. It was taught to her, instilled that lady is as ignorant as they come but U guys/gals are acting like Ur surprise this is happening…
I hear what you are saying but you really have no place speaking for ‘most people’. Maybe most people you know.
‘Racism’ is strictly about color. It is the definition of the word. Prejudice, on the other hand, is not. Virtually all people are prejudiced in one way or another towards one group or another (educated vs. non, republican vs. democratic, christian vs. muslim, etc.)
But we aren’t talking about prejudice here. And nobody is acting like she is the only racist that ever was.
Mich there may be a slight difference btw racism and prejudice but there is no difference… Those 2 go hand in hand with each other…
People I know thank god are not like that but I’ve seen more than my share in the industry I work in where I can say most. The conversations that take place at times while listening makes me want to choke slam people.
Instead of having that thought I educate them instead because Most we’re raised with that thinking process
I honestly thing she’s not very intelligent and not very educated. Doesn’t excuse her comments, but it does explain them.
I actually disagree strongly with this.
Babies aren’t BORN racist, it is learned behavior that is taught to them through repeated racist ideology and hateful behavior that is demonstrated by their parents. You can easily teach the most unintelligent child to hate, likewise you can teach the most intelligent child to hate.
In that sense, there are plenty of unintelligent people who are NOT racist, as are there highly intelligent people who ARE racist.
So saying someone is simply “dumb” as a reason to explain racist behavior just doesn’t wash with me. Blaming racism on intelligence of lack thereof is the same as blaming racism on geography or age or economical background–it’s simply not true.
Racism transcends these things and crosses all divides.
Good point. There are indeed intelligent, highly educated racists out there, as sad as it is. Likewise, there are people who are not well educated who are kind, loving and inclusive.
Sorry, but just to call out Smithfield for a moment. They said, “Smithfield is determined to be an ethical food industry leader […]. ROTFL. Yeah, I’ll call you ethical when you use ethically raised meat. Just saying.
Not only that, they are in the process of selling to a Chinese company that has some questionable practices in their history, such as illegally adding chemicals to their meat.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/another-senator-urges-caution-on-smithfields-sale-to-chinese-company/
Well it looks like her sons came out to bat for her too: http://tv.yahoo.com/news/paula-deens-son-claims-against-her-extortion-character-140617271.html
Denial, much?
Her Great Grandfather killed himself when his slaves were set free…hmmm…
afraid of some sort of retaliation, perhaps, after the way he treated them? Or was he just totally useless without them.
Either one works.
Truly, and this is meant without snark, I would assume it was both.
agreed. But why not throw in some snark, what the heck.
My mom is 65 years old and grew up in Jackson Mississippi. She had a black maid growing up, she was in junior high when the first black students desegregated the school. She says the same thing about her parents- polite racists- and she grew up hearing the MLK was just a meddler who no one in the South wanted. She went to her maid’s house one day in junior high, who she loved, the first time EVER she had gone there and saw a big picture of MLK. That’s when she realized it wasn’t true- not everyone in the South thought he was a meddler. My mother shed her racist upbringing completely. I grew up with non of it. We had friends of every race and many nations and in 2008 my mother was one of the first people (we live in Iowa) to sign up as Obama’s prescinct captain. I didn’t even think about it as remarkable until I see crap like this. Thank God my mother was not part of this banality of evil.
It’s just a word! black people or should I say African American people use it all the time so because Paula is white she gets her while life taken away? It’s 2013 people really
I hate to bring you this newsflash but the term “African-American” is not only a term coined by Whitey but if you go through any Diversity Class they will tell you it’s not appreciated by most black people. Why? Because – follow me here – not all black people’s ancestors came from Africa. Just so you know, I’m white and I didn’t need a Diversity Class to tell me this. I have a co-worker who is of Jamaican heritage and she really doesn’t appreciate being referred to as an “African” American.
Jesse Jackson helped ‘popularize’ the term in the late 80’s:
http://books.google.com/books?id=xoZ0POyF2YkC&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=jesse+jackson+african+american+cultural+base&hl=en#v=onepage&q=jesse%20jackson%20african%20american%20cultural%20base&f=false
African-American is a silly term, I agree. Why? Because my husband’s “African/American” and he is whiter than snow (born in S. Africa to Brit parents, now American citizen). And I don’t call myself a British-Scottish-Swedish-American, we’re all Americans and that shouldn’t be diminished by more labeling.
It became a mainstream term on The Cosby Show.
I saw the comment “time to move on”. I agree, but it’s yet another opportunity for those who use ‘labeling’ when it’s convenient (to get more for nothing-government handouts, jobs, etc) so this won’t end soon.
I have experienced so much reverse discrimination in my life it’s hard to keep track. I didn’t claim a law suit.
You don’t see them crucifying Oprah when she constantly rides the Black band wagon. She never did this when she was trying to make a name for herself and needing the white audience as much as the black, but now she is there. It’s a different story. EVERYTHING is black this, black that.
I’m sorry, did white people do anything but bad in history or today?
I actually heard her say one time that putting paprika on deviled eggs was a ‘black thing” really? Do we have to give credit to black people for that too? I thought that was pretty funny. It comes from way back in my family – no slaves, no black.. hmm. go ahead someone with more time than brains- tell me I’m wrong. I expect it.
Point is, EVERYONE stop labeling. Stop expecting a “pay day” from a law suit.
Paula is self made, no matter how you view who/what she is. She has made her fortune (the hard way!) SO not surprising that someone who didn’t work for it has found a way to try to take a piece of it~
I have been harassed at work both sexually and by reverse discrimination, guess what- I quit and found another job!~ MOVE ON
I am so sick of hearing from blacks how your ancesters were mistreated. Yes, they were. It was unspeakably horrile. So was the history of the Jews. SO were my ancesters-Native American. The stories make me cry evertime, because it shows how far from God we were.
We learn from it we move on, hopefully in a more positive way.
MOST of us are trying to do this.
It’s beat in every childs head in school these days. All the horrible things that we did to each other in history. I am suprised the kids today know anything about how some worked together (no matter their heritage) to make this country great.
All they hear are all the horrible things we did to others in history.
How about this.
STOP feeding on this kind crap.
Everyone turn to God, pray for God to touch our hearts and make us all better people. Treat everyone the same, and don’t allow things like this to make us take 10 steps back in our progress to treat EVERYONE equal. In God’s Love~
She has her life, what are you talking about? She has enough money to never work another day. Her behavior was bad and she lost contracts as she should. Let’s not dramatize it to the point that she lost her life. People are fired day in and day out and have to struggle, and they are often let go for no other reason than to please shareholders. So stop with the pity party. She made her bed and now she can lie in it. Stop with the excuses of black people using the word, it has an entirely different meaning in that context, and further, you are talking about a small population who use it, and not all black people.
Much more happened than just the use of a word.
EXACTLY, but people are fixed on nothing but the “N” word.
Nothing against Jamie and Bobby, except that they need to stay out of this.
Paula can say this happened long ago all she wants, but the truth is that it’s continuing and there is massive evidence of same for anyone who actually takes the time to be informed before posting.
In addition, Paula Deen’s inappropriate behavior should also be called into scrutiny. What about her riding on the back of Robert Irvine with a glass of red wine in one hand or LICKING his bare chest while on her knees at an event? What about her emulating a sexual act on a chocolate eclair? What about her dropping her pants at another event? What about her saying “Motherf——” on air? Google it. It’s there. It’s FACT, and I’ve seen much of it.
It is time for Paula Deen to retire and quit acting like a horny old woman.
She used the slur as an employer in front of employees in a place of business. As a business owner, she was presented many times with evidence that her employees (and her part-owner brother) were:
*using racist language directed at employees,
*he was physically assaulting them,
*he made sexual advances on employees,
*he wouldn’t promote women
*he had unequal pay for women vs. men
*he only allowed light skinned staff to be up front
*he made black workers enter from the back of the building (even to pick up checks)
*he had separate bathrooms for white and black employees
*He distributed p0rn at manager meetings
Paula participated in many of these actions and was told about them by her general manager, her accountant, her lawyers, an outside consulting firm, etc.
By not putting a stop to horrible practices in her own business, she enabled them. By not stopping it after being told repeatedly, she was approving and condoning these actions
Here is an idea call them people without attaching their race to it. Also, are you justifying the use of the the N word because the people its used to humiliate say it? SO its OK for Paula to say it because someone else says it? That theory is absolutely an argument built on sand.
It boggles my mind that she could refer to her great grandfather’s slaves as ‘workers’, as if they were paid a fair wage and had a choice in being there. And then in the same breath refer to them as ‘family.’ That is some deep-seated, indoctrinated racism.
“Paula Deen has officially become a butter-slathered pariah. No one wants her.”
That’s it. We can all go home now. OMFG. LMAO!
Oh, Anne Rice:
Anne Rice had some stuff to say about the terrible, terrible persecution of Paula Deen. Specifically, she worries if Deen is the victim of our “lynch mob” culture. ANNE. ANNE. THAT’S NOT A GOOD USE OF WORDS. That’s the kind of word-using that I’d expect from someone who isn’t an internationally famous professional writer. Actually, no, it’s something that I’d expect a non-famous non-writer to erase immediately once they realized what they’d just written. Anne. Anne. Stop. This is not good. Do you have an old copy of Encarta lying around? Look up the history of the term “lynch mob.” Then STOP.
http://jezebel.com/paula-deen-is-the-victim-of-a-lynch-mob-says-anne-ri-566468269
Anne’s comments are soooo awful!
Not only the “lynch” comments, but saying that since she didn’t say it to black people (only to other whites) that it is ok????
In addition, Rice is confused. She says these comments were made in private. No they weren’t. They were made by an employer infront of employees at the place of business. Repeatedly.
Absolutely right. What the hell is Anne Rice doing?! Of all the things to say….
Anne Rice is a whack anyway, so nobody’s going to listen to her.
Outstanding mention of Encarta!!!!
Outstanding mention of Encarta!!
i used to love the ‘STORY’ about how she pulled herself up by the bootstraps & raised her sons as a single mom and started waitressing and built an empire, blah, blah, BLAH!
i feel like the ‘BIGGEST F*CKING SUCKER ON EARTH’ ’cause i really felt in my heart of hearts…ahhhh LOOOOK, not all southern folk feel that way about black folks, LOOK. AT. PAULA DEEN!!!
now, i’ve gotta throw her in my ‘got had by a racist’ bin. 🙁
What is sickening is her book that is due out in October is upping it’s pre-order status ranking according to CNN. Her sales are going through the roof. I just can’t with this woman.
I may not like what she said but she answered in the affirmative when asked about the slur. She should be allowed to do business so as to prevent her to become a sympathetic figure. Her bigotry is ultimately her problem and her losing her television contracts will not solve the problem. I do not watch her shows nor do I buy her products so I really do not care.
Dear Smithfield: Ham is poison.
That is all.
The story of her poor, poor great-grandfather who got OMG soooo depressed because he wasn’t allowed to possess human beings as his property anymore is just priceless. Ariel Castro looked quite traumatized over losing the people he owned too, Paula. Idiot.
After reading the deposition and then there’s the whole debacle with her deal with Novo Nordisk e.g. shilling diabetes medication while she she shills out the recipes for and promotes fattening unhealthy foods that causes diabetes….it’s really hard for me to have any sympathy for her. I think she is a greedy woman with very little empathy and understanding or racism…especially true if this stuff is going on in the workplace of all places. She commands a seven or eight figure salary. Have some social responsibility please. Her fans, many who seem (not going to say “are” but “seem” based on comments posted elsewhere) to be rabid racists, need to stop making excuses for her.
Excuse me, but WTF is a CASUAL racist anyway?? Is that like a laid-back homophobe? Or a relaxed Neo-Nazi?
She treated her black employees far differently than her white ones, told racist jokes around them and then goes on to say that she loves to see ‘them’ in plantation garb.
I hope this fat cow loses all of her empire.
The notion that old people from the South get a “pass” because slavery was legal here more than a century ago is crap (nevermind that Paula Deen is not “old”). I grew up in the Northeast and now live in the South and can tell you that I saw a lot more social segregation and racism up north than down south. Growing up in NYC, I could tell you where all the ethnic neighborhoods were: where the African Americans lived and the Italians and the Chinese and the Jews and the Puerto Ricans and the Russians, etc…. Everyone knew. It was ethnically segregated. In fact, I never went to school with any African American kids until I moved to the South. I never had an African American friend until I moved to the South. So all this stuff about giving Paula Deen a pass because she’s from the South is itself a form of stereo-typing. She deserves no such pass. She is not an “old lady from the South” and Savannah Georgia circa 2013 is not Jackson, Mississippi circa 1962. Part of Paula’s racism comes from ignorance, and that can always be forgiven with an apology – such as the insensitive and clumsy words she uses. But part of it – the part where she treats black people differently (such as the waiters) is not ignorance. It’s condescension. And for that, she deserves to be fired.
Paula is not some strange unicorn, look, there are plenty of people out there just like her. And they are not some scary racist white men, they are “good hearted and kind” (passive aggressive & sneaky) white women and girls who fantasize about being Scarlett in gone with the wind and having their own ‘mammy’.
Unlike other racists they view black people as (barely) human, but not as equals.
I’ve never encountered racism from white men, but plenty from white women and girls who’ve tried to sabotage me out of pure jealousy. Thankfully I’ve learned how to avoid, act and behave around them.
If you’re not a ‘mammy’ type you are a threat to them.
No, her casual racism is just as despicable as the crap way she treats her employees (and she must be violating many labor laws, so here’s hoping she gets sued over and over).
I hope no one gives her a pass on this. She’s as crazy and horrible as Mel Gibson, and she should be shunned exactly as he is.
You know what makes me so sick over all of this? About 95% of the people I talk too, online and off, DEFEND Paula vehemently. It’s usually something like “oh, she said the n word, so do rappers and she said it 20 years ago.” Uh, no.. she wanted “slave themed waiters at a 2007 wedding” and she’s not just dropping the N word, she’s fantasizing about the days of slavery. That’s sick.
As for “rappers” and Quentin Terantino’s movie, what’s that have to do with PAULA? “She did wrong” and it should stop there. I should not hear a “but” after that, because it’s irrelevant. I feel like I’m living in some sort of racist parallel universe. Its really sickening
These same pp are voluntarily obtuse; denying the existence of context. Having said that, what the h*ll doesn’t it have to do with what Paula Deen is doing to her employees?
Well, Smithfield is a bunch of nasty hypocrites. They way their slaughterhouses are run is appalling and most decidedly racist. They exploit illegal workers and black ex-cons who can’t get jobs anywhere else. They have super dangerous–seriously medieval–working conditions, no union reps, and they can’t even call the cops if something horrifying is going on because they’ll be deported or fired and the law will turn a blind eye. Smithfield is 10 million times worse than Paula Deen’s ignorance. They actually still PRACTICE slavery.
and before you all get upset with me: no, that is not an excuse for her behavior. I’m just saying that Deen’s stupidity and tone-deaf ignorance of racial issues isn’t even in the same league with Smithfield and their corporate exploitation of marginalized and powerless groups of actual human beings.
So, yeah. Enjoy that cheap pork.
For what it’s worth, I stopped buying anything Paula touched when she began her business relationship with Smithfield.
Paula Deen is ALSO CRUDE AND VULGAR !!! I saw her on TV one day and she made the male guest lie down on the door and she put one of her spiked heel shoes on his chest — Her behavior is GROSS AND VILE. She gives ALL SOUTHERN WOMEN A BAD NAME. SHAME, SHAME SHAME !!!
Texas born and raised here and I have NEVER liked that woman. Thank gawd my instincts continue to be razor sharp in my old age. lol Seeing as I’m daily surrounded with southern accents, any celebrity accentuating the stupidity that is all things twang as their personal ‘niche’ gags me. Matthew McConaughey too, ick ick ick.
This is a terribly written piece! Typical. Spread the hate and then put words in Paula’s mouth that she never said, and then leave your ignorant readers to come to their own RACIST conclusions. Keep up the hate! That’s what “reporters” like you do best!
BTW, I like how your disclaimer says “no hatred or bigotry” allowed, yet I read all kinds of hateful and racist remarks against white people on here. Yes, racism runs in EVERY race. Make sure and teach that hatred and racism against white people to your children! Keep up the hate!
What happened to my post? It wasn’t bad just a different point of view…??