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I think she got a really raw deal she said a bad word 30 years ago apologized for it many years ago and has now been fired and has been vilified.
It is tough for her career to be down the drain, just like that, but she did admit to saying some pretty disturbing things. She says she used the N-word and told racist jokes, but claimed it was okay because she meant no harm and was just using normal language. Is that not troubling to you?
I think had she said it on TV, it would warrant censure. But, as you point out, it was three decades ago, and I defy any of the people who are now involved in firing her to show that they have NEVER said a pejorative expression about anyone. Or is it only ok if it’s about Jews?
I don’t think it was 30 years ago.
You feel the same way about John Galiano? Jesse Jackson?
I thought the whole issue was blown out of proportion. Too much poorly-focused Political Correctness nowadays.
Her shows now aren’t that great. Her home cooking/Southern-style show was better than this one where she cooks anything.
Actually, she said it more than once– and then lied about using it.
She told a talk show host she had only ever used that word one time in 1986 after having been robbed at gunpoint. However, she admitted under oath during a deposition (involving a former employee of her network who was suing for race and sex based discrimination) that she had also used the word since then, including while planning her brother’s 2007 wedding. She originally had in mind a “plantation-style” wedding and wanted to hire African-American men to serve the food. This idea, thankfully, was rejected.
How do we know that employee is not being dishonest? To ruin someone’s reputation and career over such an allegation is ignominious.
Paula Deen is a self-made entrepreneur and a success. Martha Stewart was another self-made woman and a huge success. Despite these allegations, Deen supported President Obama both terms, and there was an episode where she and her husband distributed gifts dressed as Santa Claus in an orphanage for young African American boys for kretchmas.
Incidentally, I have never been a fan of hers. Her cooking is extra fatty for no apparent reason, and her persona comes off as a caricature.
I think it’s been blown way out of proportion and she doesn’t deserve this kind of backlash. That being said, private companies have every right to make whatever decisions they see fit. If Walmart and Target and whoever else want to drop her because they think it’s better for business, they have the right to make that call.
Private companies are free to make foolish and bad decisions.
Double standards abound. A poster wrote about Jesse Jackson. Well, he got away with it. Why? Because he is black and liberal. Clarence Thomas, one of the most brilliant legal minds is constantly vilified because although he is black, he is a conservative.
Who among the CR can say that he/she never laughed at an anti-black email joke (and maybe even forwarded it to his/her best 100 friends)?
To clarify: this is not based on allegations made by the former employee. I certainly can’t comment on whether the race/sex discrimination case was legitimate or not. But during the process of the lawsuit, Deen took a deposition on record and was quoted as saying those things about her brother’s wedding. Officially on record and verifiable.
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