Paula Deen racist?

[AustinTink]

He did not ruin her career. She did. She was and is in charge of her own life. If she chose to excuse his behavior, if she chose to abdicate her responsibility in her corporation, if she chose to allow bad behavior...well that is on her.

If she had made a conscientious effort to oversee her own business and had disassociated herself from his business, she would not be in the pickle that she is in now.

And, he's the one who put her in the position of having to choose between family and business. She chose him, wrong decision.

 

[minkydog]

Bad as this is, where is the outrage against Kanye, Lil Wayne, Jay Z and all the rest of those misbegotten rap singers who routinely use the N-word? When are we going to stand up for the women they refer to as b-****** and h-***?


*crickets chirping*

 

[Acklander]

Bad as this is, where is the outrage against Kanye, Lil Wayne, Jay Z and all the rest of those misbegotten rap singers who routinely use the N-word? When are we going to stand up for the women they refer to as b-****** and h-***?


*crickets chirping*

Those outraged show their outrage by not buying tickets. There are no crickets chirping - I addressed this previously. Rap singers, authors, comics and other such artists sell their art directly to the audience. If someone doesn't like it, they don't pay to see them. Paula sells her product (herself) to advertisers. Advertisers don't like controversity, right now she is controversial. She's more than welcome to go directly to the audience. She can continue publishing books and selling her products. If she wanted to pay for air time she could even continue her show and finance it herself. That's her prerogative.

 

[Nancyg56]

And, he's the one who put her in the position of having to choose between family and business. She chose him, wrong decision.

She could have dissociated herself from a business relationship with him, and still maintained her family relationship. Many people are faced with combining business and family, but have to make a that difficult decision. She added her sons, her husband and her brother to the entire business mix, and while that may have seemed like a good idea at the time, it has opened a can of worms for her.

 

[LSmith]

Bad as this is, where is the outrage against Kanye, Lil Wayne, Jay Z and all the rest of those misbegotten rap singers who routinely use the N-word? When are we going to stand up for the women they refer to as b-****** and h-***?


*crickets chirping*

Absolutely.

People are sheeple. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Acklander]

Absolutely.

People are sheeple. That's all I'm saying.

I haven't seen sheeple behavior on this thread. I've seen people with different tolerance levels in response to what she stated in the deposition, and I've seen people with different opinions, where's the sheeple???

 

[TheZue]

Those outraged show their outrage by not buying tickets. There are no crickets chirping - I addressed this previously. Rap singers, authors, comics and other such artists sell their art directly to the audience. If someone doesn't like it, they don't pay to see them. Paula sells her product (herself) to advertisers. Advertisers don't like controversity, right now she is controversial. She's more than welcome to go directly to the audience. She can continue publishing books and selling her products. If she wanted to pay for air time she could even continue her show and finance it herself. That's her prerogative.

 

[TinkerBelled]

Those outraged show their outrage by not buying tickets. There are no crickets chirping - I addressed this previously. Rap singers, authors, comics and other such artists sell their art directly to the audience. If someone doesn't like it, they don't pay to see them. Paula sells her product (herself) to advertisers. Advertisers don't like controversity, right now she is controversial. She's more than welcome to go directly to the audience. She can continue publishing books and selling her products. If she wanted to pay for air time she could even continue her show and finance it herself. That's her prerogative.

For the most part, I agree. But I do think that there's a much higher tolerance for misogyny than there is for racism. Record labels and radio stations dance a tricky dance with successful artists, but they can punish artists who they feel have stepped too far out of line; there seems to be little interest in such punishment regarding misogyny, but I imagine that overt oppositional racism would trigger a response. (By oppositional, I mean generally interracial insult or race-baiting.)

However, in cases like this, I am always reminded of the 30 Rock episode where Liz and Tracy try to decide if it's harder to be a white female or black male in America (made during the 2008 primaries, natch).

 

[FlyingDumbo]

Bad as this is, where is the outrage against Kanye, Lil Wayne, Jay Z and all the rest of those misbegotten rap singers who routinely use the N-word? When are we going to stand up for the women they refer to as b-****** and h-***?


*crickets chirping*

The outrage is definitely present and accounted for. But " everyone is doing it" has never been a valid excuse, and does not excuse Paula Deens behavior. You reap what you sow. Bubba is a disgusting pig and she just let this go on for years. Wen you are a public figure, you need to appeal to your audience to make your money. Her audience does not condone her behavior. Her sponsors didn't either apparently. There are a lot of people who refuse to support the likes of those you mentioned.

 

[mhsjax]

Little to none of this is about what happened thirty years ago. As usual, people don't read the information put out by the media, and make up their own minds about what to be mad about.

Yeah, and information put out by the media is always spot on.

 

[davedmaine]

http://www.wdam.com/story/22637831/paula-deen-admits-to-use-of-racial-slurs-during-deposition

What do ya'l think about this?

It makes me sad that famous southerner has done this. We have a hard enough time fighting the "racist" reputation we have without someone who is nationally loved making it look too true.

I don't understand how she can excuse using racial slurs.

She's a phony not a southerner. The whole rush to make money off her diabetes after promoting unhealthy eating habits for years really showed her true character.

 

[Planogirl]

People will routinely do things to make money. I can't fault her for that personally.

I just wonder if she's one of those women who let men take charge? I have seen them in the past but I thought that that mindset died out long ago. But who knows?

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

IMO, this has been blown completely out of proportion. I do not know anybody over 60 who hasn't used that word. She comes from a different era. She was asked if she has ever used that word and she answered honestly yes. She was not asked, do you still use that word today for black people.

I have known people who have been angry and used that word, they are not racists, they are simply people who made mistakes. If she was anything but "white" she would not be seen as racist for using that word.

 

[Buckalew11]

I'm betting she'll forgive him. She'll blame herself for for not being more involved and not dealing with her brother's issues & prejudices. Hopefully she's saved and invested wisely.

 

[LSmith]

I haven't seen sheeple behavior on this thread. I've seen people with different tolerance levels in response to what she stated in the deposition, and I've seen people with different opinions, where's the sheeple???

It's there, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[TinkerBelled]

Ugh, I've just read the complaint, and PD's brother is an absolute pig.

As for the bathrooms, I have no problems with staff being required to use their own bathrooms; the complaint alleges, however, that only black staff were required to so do, while white staff were allowed to use customer bathrooms.

In addition, the complaint claims that there were other times PD used the racial epithet in question: in business meetings, for example, in 2007. It seems more like a pattern and less like a mistake.

However, it's clear that the brother is both a deeply sexist and racist man, down to the core, and that this was not only tolerated by Paula Deen but regularly humored. The quotes are too explicit and offensive to list here, but if true they're genuinely outrageous: every epithet under the book; violence; overt racism ("don't you wish you could rub all the black off you and be like me" is probably the least explicit turn of phrase); overt sexism, including refusing to listen to female managers and paying female staff less for the same work; racist jokes about the president; sexual harassment; racist comments made to vendors; anti-semitic comments; the works.

Entirely gross.

 

[TheZue]

Ugh, I've just read the complaint, and PD's brother is an absolute pig.

As for the bathrooms, I have no problems with staff being required to use their own bathrooms; the complaint alleges, however, that only black staff were required to so do, while white staff were allowed to use customer bathrooms.

In addition, the complaint claims that there were other times PD used the racial epithet in question: in business meetings, for example, in 2007. It seems more like a pattern and less like a mistake.

However, it's clear that the brother is both a deeply sexist and racist man, down to the core, and that this was not only tolerated by Paula Deen but regularly humored. The quotes are too explicit and offensive to list here, but if true they're genuinely outrageous: every epithet under the book; violence; overt racism ("don't you wish you could rub all the black off you and be like me" is probably the least explicit turn of phrase); overt sexism, including refusing to listen to female managers and paying female staff less for the same work; racist jokes about the president; sexual harassment; racist comments made to vendors; anti-semitic comments; the works.

Entirely gross.

You know, maybe the food network was aware and got out now that it's all coming out.

 

[Nancyg56]

You know, maybe the food network was aware and got out now that it's all coming out.

The FN has a history of either of not doing their homework when it comes to popular stars or playing ostrich until the cat is out of the bag. In this case, I find it hard to believe that a corporation with the resources FN has was totally in the dark. I agree that ws long as PD was a commodity that was marketable, they stayed on board, but once her skeletons came sliding out from under the bed, they were done.

I think that just as I believe that PD was responsible for the issues that occurred within her companies, FN is as responsible for the employees under their umbrella. Yes, they are a step away from her business, but she is their business, and as far as I am concerned, they dropped the ball as well.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

IMO, this has been blown completely out of proportion. I do not know anybody over 60 who hasn't used that word.

I can think of at least five people I know over the age of 60 who have never said it in front of me. Of those five, I can say with 95% certainty that three of them never said that word.

Age is not an excuse.

 

[suzannen]

IMO, this has been blown completely out of proportion. I do not know anybody over 60 who hasn't used that word. She comes from a different era. She was asked if she has ever used that word and she answered honestly yes. She was not asked, do you still use that word today for black people.

I have known people who have been angry and used that word, they are not racists, they are simply people who made mistakes. If she was anything but "white" she would not be seen as racist for using that word.

Totally untrue! I grew up in the South, I'm in my late 50s, my siblings are all in their 60s and my parents are in their 80s. We never used that word, nor did any of our friends.
1) I wish people would stop making excuses for or trying to justify unacceptable BAD behavior and
2) I wish people would actually read the deposition to understand that this is NOT about Paula using that word once or twice in her life, it's a pattern of unacceptable behavior

Ugh, I've just read the complaint, and PD's brother is an absolute pig.

As for the bathrooms, I have no problems with staff being required to use their own bathrooms; the complaint alleges, however, that only black staff were required to so do, while white staff were allowed to use customer bathrooms.

In addition, the complaint claims that there were other times PD used the racial epithet in question: in business meetings, for example, in 2007. It seems more like a pattern and less like a mistake.

However, it's clear that the brother is both a deeply sexist and racist man, down to the core, and that this was not only tolerated by Paula Deen but regularly humored. The quotes are too explicit and offensive to list here, but if true they're genuinely outrageous: every epithet under the book; violence; overt racism ("don't you wish you could rub all the black off you and be like me" is probably the least explicit turn of phrase); overt sexism, including refusing to listen to female managers and paying female staff less for the same work; racist jokes about the president; sexual harassment; racist comments made to vendors; anti-semitic comments; the works.

Entirely gross.

I agree with everything you posted. I felt so disgusted reading it and I have been a fan of Paula's for years. After hearing some of her language, etc. I know I'll never feel quite the same about her again. I can't begin to describe my reaction to Bubba, I'd get major points.

However, I do still like Jamie and Bobby and would continue to watch their shows, if they are allowed to continue. I've not heard anything implicating them in any of this.