paula deen made her appearance at the today show this morning.
everyone is talking.
are you eatin’ up what she is selling today?…
Paula Deen dissolved into tears during a “Today” show interview Wednesday about her admission that she used a racial slur in the past, saying anyone in the audience who’s never said anything they’ve regretted should pick up a rock and throw it at her head.
The celebrity chef, who had backed out of a “Today” interview last Friday, said she was not a racist and was heartbroken by the controversy that began with her own deposition in a lawsuit. Deen has been dropped by the Food Network and as a celebrity endorser by Smithfield Foods.
“I’ve had to hold friends in my arms while they’ve sobbed because they know what’s been said about me is not true and I’m having to comfort them,” she said.
Deen told Lauer she could only recall using the “n-word” once. She had earlier said that she remembered using it when retelling a story about when she was held at gunpoint by a robber who was black while working as a bank teller in the 1980s in Georgia. In a deposition for the lawsuit involving an employee in a restaurant owned by Deen and her brother, she had said she may also have used the slur when recalling conversations between black employees at her restaurants.
Looking distressed and her voice breaking, Deen said if there was someone in the audience who had never said something they wished they could take back, “please pick up that stone and throw it as hard at my head so it kills me. I want to meet you. I want to meet you.
“I is what I is and I’m not changing,” she said. “There’s someone evil out there that saw what I worked for and wanted it.”
An uncomfortable Lauer tried to end the interview, but Deen repeated that anyone who hasn’t sinned should attack her.
Deen said she appreciated fans who have expressed anger at the Food Network for dropping her, but said she didn’t support a boycott of the network.
“These people who have met me and know me and love me, they’re as angry as the people who are reading these stories that are lies,” she said.
everyone cries when sponsors are jumping ship.
i have a question tho:
if paula deen was a black woman,
and she was doing this towards jewish and gay people,
would she get this same treatment?
would the whites go hard in comment boxes and forms?
would the blacks be as sympathetic or would they jump ship?
ask yourself that seriously…
lowkey: this is all a mess.
so she wasn’t grilled on how she treated her black workers in her kitchens?
the slave inspired wedding?
matt went super hard on breezy wolf.
she didn’t even apologize to us.
she apologized to how she is being treated.
Walmart just severed relationship w Paula
^paula deen.
cooking on cancellation.
everything is getting fried one by one.
well lets roll in the next person to make unhealthy food for this new season of life.
Omg get over it I come on here to be nosey and look at pictures of hot guys I thought this was a really cool blog Ive even seen people I know on here, even though one of the people were actually straight.
What I want you guys to realize other than the fact that there are other everyday issues going on that actually affect your life, while Paula Deen is paid no matter how much she is ridiculed, blogged about, or headlined. I dont think its that deep, I get it yeah she is a brand so it got blown up way more than if she was just a regular community lady.
To answer your question had it been a black woman nobody wouldve said a thing, the media has to have someone or something to target to distract the masses almost each week a different celeb is the focus from Amanda Bynes, to Miley Cyrus, and gets everybody talking instead of working and focusing on maybe why there are no wholefood stores in minority communities, or why cancer is now becoming a even more serious epidemic among women, and is it really something in these processed foods we eat thats causing this or is the government really putting chemicals in the air(jus saying)
After abruptly cancelling a planned appearance on the Today show last Friday to answer allegations that she’d used racially charged language and created a hostile environment at one of her businesses, celebrity chef Paula Deen finally made an appearance with Matt Lauer on Wednesday morning to discuss the controversy swirling around her that’s seen her dropped by the Food Network and sponsor Smithfield.
Deen was tearful in discussing how the scandal has impacted her and her family and friends, but her answers to Lauer’s questions suggested more about her views on race and responsibility than she may have intended. These are the five most revealing moments of Deen and Lauer’s conversation:
1. She doesn’t think she has to change: Towards the end of the interview, Deen sounded a defiant note in what will probably become the soundbite of the conversation: “I is what I is and I’m not changing.” Because Deen is the subject of ongoing litigation, and because QVC is, as Lauer put it, “weighing their options,” she was probably never going to be in a position to actually admit wrongdoing or even apologize in vague terms that could be construed as an admission of guilt. But declaring that “I’m not changing” is precisely the opposite of what most celebrities do in public apologies, where they often acknowledge that they have a lot to learn, and announce the partners with which they’ll try to educate themselves. Instead, it’s a canny marketing move, assuring hard-core fans that Deen won’t compromise the values or the persona that made her popular in the first place. But it probably won’t shut down the campaign to see her dropped by sponsors. And it certainly wont’ get her out of the claims against her, especially because Lisa Jackson, the employee who sued Deen in the first place, is considering suing Deen’s sons for slander because they suggested she was trying to extort Deen in an interview on CNN on Tuesday.
2. She doesn’t understand why African-Americans can use language white people can’t: Lauer brought up the section of Deen’s deposition where, when asked about racial and ethnic jokes, Deen said ” I can’t, myself, determine what offends another person.” “That last sentence gets me,” Lauer tells her. “Do you have any doubt in your mind that african americans are offended by the “n” word?” Deen’s response is telling. “I don’t know, Matt,” she says. “I have asked myself that so many times because it’s very distressing for me to go into my kitchen and I hear what these young people are calling each other. It’s very, very distressful.” If Deen doesn’t understand that different words have different connotations when used by different speakers, that suggests an unwillingness to think critically about race, power, and historical context. This is a frequent strawman offered up by people who have spoken in racially insensitive ways. But that frequency doesn’t make it any less a missing of the point.
3. She thinks Jesse Jackson is supporting her. He’s actually investigating her: “I’ve had wonderful support from Reverend Jackson,” Deen told Lauer during their conversation. If that reference Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. was meant to prove that Deen has prominent black supporters, she might want to think again. In reality Janice Mathis, who’s the president of Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said last week that the organization ““will take a closer look at Paula Deen’s company to determine whether the allegations are credible, and if so, do they constitute a widespread pattern or practice of illegal exclusion. It may also be relevant to determine whether the company has any state or federal contracts. We are not making any assumptions about these very serious charges, but we are investigating and will report our findings publicly.” It may be in Deen’s interest to cooperate fully with them. But the organization has hardly given her a clean bill of health yet.
4. She uses language suggesting that being gay is a choice: The Deen controversy has focused on ideological fault-lines around race, particularly around whether nostalgia for the aesthetics of the pre-Civil War South constitutes racial bias–Deen came under fire for fantasizing about a wedding where black waiters would serve white guests, and grousing that the media would tar the event as racist, even though she couldn’t, or wouldn’t explain why the waiters had to be African-American for the image to land. But since she began apologizing, Deen’s language has revealed some other ideas that are decidedly uncomfortable. She referred to “sexual preference,” rather than sexual orientation in her initial apology. And with Lauer, Deen said “I believe that every creature on this earth, everyone of god’s creatures was created equal no matter who you choose to go to bed at night with. No matter what church you go to pray.” It wasn’t just that race was notably absent from her list of things that could make people different but equal, but that Deen’s words suggested that she believes sexual orientation is a choice. That may be another one of the ideas from a different time that her supporters are willing to overlook. But it’s an idea that’s had real consequences for gay people who have been told that they are fixable, and whose relationships have been criminalized, all in living memory.
5. She sees herself as a martyr: “There’s someone evil out there that saw what i had worked for and they wanted it,” Deen told Lauer towards the end of their conversation. That use of the word “evil” is striking in it intensity and suggestion of some sort of larger conspiracy to get Deen. And it’s an attempt to change the conversation, and to mark Deen’s accusers as jealous of her success, or not deserving of either compensation if she fostered a discriminatory workplace, or back pay if the wage theft allegations against her are found to be true. Deen has all the interest in the world in flipping the script, whether she’s describing comforting sobbing friends or alleging a dark plan to bring her down. But however effective tactics like those may have been in the past, it may be too late for Deen to change the story.
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/06/26/2216441/the-five-most-revealing-things-paula-deen-told-matt-lauer-on-the-today-show-this-morning/?mobile=nc
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/06/25/2208311/what-paula-deen-and-her-sons-tells-us-about-the-four-ways-racists-defend-themselves/
…and i’m done.
next entry.
you n\just don’t like her do you. Well, so I’m here sitting at the airport waiting for my flight and voila, I think i see one of your “baller wolves” not the least bit impressive in person…anyway i digress, a bunch of other black folk looked like “niggers” and this black attorney (i learned he was an attorney in DC – an alpha, for those who care) says “black people are a lost cause” .. Well I wished Jamari Fox was there to hear that from a black attorney who actually “fought” for blacks’ right.
Lol I tell ya! thats what you picked from that? i guess you again selectively chose not to read the first line?
IS that what happened? Did she say it TO a worker? Did she call HER worker a Nigger? Paula deen admits to using the N word while recounting to someone about what happened to her IN her restaurant, granted a worker hearing that should/could take offense to that even though it was NOT directed at them
^funny you saying i selectively chose to read your essay,
but you selectively chose not to answer my question.
why am i not surprised?
goodbye davon.
lol that superman gif. I will quit working there if she says that to me because that would be insulting ME. Is that what happened?
^yayyyyy!
i like it when we get back on track.
so if you would be offended she even uttered that sentence,
how do you think blacks in general would feel?
if she is throwing the n bomb all over the place,
of course people will insinuate she is speaking of blacks in general.
the n word does not describe one person but a whole race of people.
it is also offensive when used by white people due to how they used it with us.
Paula said, “It’s just what they are — they’re jokes…most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, black folks…I can’t determine what offends another person.”
beyond ignorant statement.
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/06/paula-deen-racist-jokes-deposition/
i dont understand this caping for this woman and her family who clearly were in the wrong.
she made her bed and now she has to lie in it.
i keep asking in these comments if this was a black family treating jewish workers like this,
would people be on the defense for them?
all hell would have broken loose and everyone knows it.
I try to see your point of view, but honestly I’m reading a whole lot of nothing.
All I will say is you’re kidding yourself if you think white people differentiate when they use the n-word. As soon as they feel slighted in the least, you’ll be one, no matter how professional and clean cut you appear to be.
I read her deposition, and listened to it on POTUS politics on Sirius XM… She said on why she referred to a worker as “black” not “african-american” she said she tries to refer to blacks as they want to be referred. Is she at fault? You honestly SINCERELY can not fault her. Did “Blacks” not say they DO NOT want to be called AFRICAN-Americans.? (http://thegrio.com/2012/02/06/some-blacks-insist-im-not-african-american/ ) .. NIGGER is a term of endearment? LOL So I guess gays find FAG to be a term of endearment to themselves too? If you call your daughter a bitch, why the fuck are you mad when a stranger calls her a bitch? Blacks need to clean up their act and stop pointing fingers MAYBE if we stopped calling ourselves NIGGA/ NIGGUH / NIGGER then we can have the audacity to point fingers. as for now, let Paula deen go,
Paula deen when also asked if she referred to the workers as Niggas she said “No, because they were not that type of people, these were professional black men”
Clearly she knows NIGGERS.. so NIGGER I guess you’re going to fault this and look for emotional crumbs to throw at me being an asshole? Get your shit together NIGGERS
^it goes far beyond the word NIGGA/NIGGUH/OR NIGGER.
the argument is how she treated her workers in her restaurants.
how she wanted a plantation themed weddings so those same “NIGGERS” can dress up in bow ties,
suit jackets,
and serve whites like how they did back in the old “shirley temple” days.
it also has a lot to do with her son calling the cook in the kitchen, “a monkey”.
asking a worker “aren’t all you PEOPLE the same?”
bad enough she was sued by a white employee for her actions.
this is past using the word “nigger” and going onto how she, and her family, acted like a modern day slave owners.
running a real life plantation.
im still waiting on someone to answer if she was black,
would there be all this caping?
sidebar: aren’t you mixed davon?
forgive me.
i think you have said that in your many rants of blogs past.
im sure you have been in the mix of your own prejudices.
mariah carey is your “hero”.
see what i did there?
(http://www.latina.com/entertainment/buzz/mariah-carey-her-mixed-race-i-felt-outcast-growing)
i can see where your opinion on race come into play.
many examples of mixed people have encountered racism by both blacks and whites.
blacks don’t accept you all the way.
whites still look at you as black when you try to get accepted in their world.
it can be a struggle on who to roll with I’m sure.
i was hoping you would see things from that perspective,
be more sympathetic,
but you didn’t.
should I be surprised?
you have this nasty habit of going against the grain.
fighting against what maybe right because you tend to be consumed in your own hatred.
you do come on here and use words such a “fags” to describe your own kind.
even calling us “niggers”.
kinda like what you just did up there ^.
how could i be so stupid as to think you would sympathize in these kinds of matters?
you are a ball of judgment.
the word in general isn’t good,
and you are free to say whatever you want.
if you want to call blacks the n word,
gays the f word,
and jews the k word,
it’s a free country and there is something called “freedom of speech”.
just remember that there are repercussions for saying those words.
funny.
paula deen is learning that now.
No Jamari. The argument isn’t how she treated her workers that’s just something extra to throw in since “we already got her in a rut anyway” . Did you read her deposition? All 149 brief pages of it? (Case 4:12-cv-00139-WTM-GRS ) The whole plantation thing she claims she saw at a restaurant in the south she wanted to “RECREATE” what she saw – black men dressed up in formal wear serving food. Fine, she should have known people will talk about it so there you can fault her reasoning. But let me ask you, have you been to a hibachi grill restaurant – do you notice EVERYONE working there is asian – sometimes all japanese/chinese (depending on the owner) how come no one says anything about that? Hooters – half naked girls (ALL of them). this has nothing to do with SYMPATHY so, don’t pull that card. Why feel sorry for someone (pride) when I can feel sorry WITH them? Of course anyone can feel sorry FOR black people, don’t old white folk do that already? But how many feel WITH them (Empathy)? That’s where I stand.
How is it a plantation? So dressed up black men serving food = plantation? Question: Did blacks visit said restaurant? Were these servers made to say MASSA, wear coon faced caricature, chains or were they whipped? Is there One server who will come out and say yes I was treated as a slave? Again – this is all balderdash, and stop this victim mentality you have and try to suck people into – Mariah Carey – really? Growing up I did not know COLOR. Black, white, green, purple everyone just knew PEOPLE not color. John rapped, JOHN is a rapper, he is white. Okay. Dominic was a geek, dominic is black – so. There was nothing like a “white people thing” vs “black people thing” … till college where I have met people who reasoned differently and my curious travels landed me to your blog. In rome do as the romans do, of COURSE I have used the word Nigga however I am NOT indoctrinated to reason LIKE ONE (as most often do) impo. I am far from perfect, i am a human, I and X may not reason alike, X may have his strengths I can also learn from. If I sag my pants to a job interview – wouldn’t YOU tell me it was a stupid move and even possible BLAME me if I complained to you that I was racially profiled and did not get the job?
^so if she called you a “mud person” (an offensive term the kkk called multi racial people),
working in her restaurant,
you’d be okay with that?
because she was raised in the south and that is how she was.
your (pride) would allow you to keep on makin dem biscuits for her?
please enlighten me…
Aww. Poor Paula. I think she is the type of person who doesn’t see the error in the things that she does, and in her mind she isn’t causing anyone harm.
^im starting to see so too.
she has to realize that she is now a brand as well.
is this a classic case of ignorance?
I watched this interview about 3 times just so I can get a good opinion on it. So here it is….
Will she ever be able to move on from this? Not yet. It’ll take some time for people to calm down about it. She may never be known again as Paula Deen: The Cook and Businesswoman, but rather Paula Deen: The Old White Racist. She’s a 66 year old white woman from the south who I KNOW has heard the word numerous of times (it doesn’t have to be from her father, mother, etc.). Now whether she used it or not besides that one time, only her and God knows. If I was in that situation, and a black person held a gun to my head, I most likely would’ve used the N word (but I’m black though). If a gay person would’ve held a gun to my head, I wouldn’t have said the F word. When people are upset or distressed, they use the first hurtful thing that comes to their head.
The bottom line is a white person used the N word. Point. Blank. Period.
I think a white person has NO business using the N word at all. They can’t say it as a term of indearment, they can’t say it to be down, they shouldn’t even use it in rap songs…lol. It’s a double standard I know, but it is what it is.
I give this another few weeks. This isn’t going away anytime soon.
^deep response ty.
The bottom line is a white person used the N word. Point. Blank. Period.
That’s the most stupid response I’ve heard. I’m guessing in the corporate world it is your ideology that ‘blacks’ should parlay with themselves and casually use NIGGA? No advancement? Yet you cringe on the idea that a black president will even use the word, so clearly there is a distinction on the caliber of individuals who say Nigga.
I see it this way, blacks say things like “White boy” would you prefer the white boy call you “Black boy” ? Oh, white boy isn’t hurtful is it? Blacks even call each other Negro – do you know the history of how the word nigga even became a colloquial? Slaves on the field that were promoted to Head “slaves”(still slaves) called the workers by what MASSA called them, it was NOT a term of endearment FROM a black man, it was a DEROGATORY, thus his kids called “farm kids” niggers and in turn the NIGGERS internalized that they WERE niggas (they had to be, after all the OTHER black man called them so) and began calling each other NIGGAS…the spelling was a MISSPELLING from a letter to another black slave. the word NIGGER sounds like nigGA.. there you have the word NIGGA, it is ONLY in the 21st century that blacks ‘claim’ it is endearing. AFRICAns are from AFRICA, JAMAICAns are from JAMAICA, Blacks are from……? It is only in North America that the Slave “blacks” seem to be most distraught and confused set of NEGROIDs on planet earth … I’m not talking about Black american by birth or citizenship, I mean black by ‘ancestry’
I don’t believe she has learned her lesson, and I am unwilling to look at any interviews or videos she is in. I hope justice is served when she goes to court.
OLD BIRCH IS FULL OF SHIT. FALL FOR THOSE BUTTER TEARS IF YOU WANT TOO!