Again it appears we see a double standard from one side that cries "racist" for Paula Deen's forgiveness request when on the other side you have applauded rap artist who use vile and discriminatory lyrics that are FAR worse than PD's.

Maybe equality will never exist.

Paula Deen fans criticize Food Network for firing her - latimes.com (http://www.latimes.com/features/food/dailydish/la-dd-paula-deen-fans-take-to-social-media,0,4772838.story)

Seems like a railroad job to me...she is a child of the 60's from the deep south, of course she has used the word as has 99% of her contemporaries. Would it have been better if she lied?

I admit to not knowing all of the details of the deposition but file this under the BFD category for me.

Again it appears we see a double standard from one side that cries "racist" for Paula Deen's forgiveness request when on the other side you have applauded rap artist who use vile and discriminatory lyrics that are FAR worse than PD's.

Maybe equality will never exist.

Paula Deen fans criticize Food Network for firing her - latimes.com (http://www.latimes.com/features/food/dailydish/la-dd-paula-deen-fans-take-to-social-media,0,4772838.story)

This is not surprising in the least but it's not a double standard unless the same people that are crying racist about Paula Deen are applauding the rap artist. There will always be some people who will offer support for those they are fans of no matter what happens or what they do or say.

I don't get it at all. Just another reason public opinion means little to nothing to me. The 'public' are a bunch of hypocritical flakes for the most part.

I never really had much of an opinion of Paula Deen prior to this, but I'm more likely to buy into her brand now simply out of protest to all her irrational detractors.

Another media created 'news story' that has no merit for newsworthiness IMO.

It's not like the woman is the pope or the president. She is human, she confessed and apologized. That in itself is all that matters to me. We need to stop making people walk the walk of shame of life just because they made some mistakes in life. I don't care who you are, you have said some not so choice words that would seriously offend others.

This whole concept of people calling her out and acting as if they have the right to destroy her because of the error of her ways is just nonsense. I have many friends, hundreds of acquaintances and have carried on casual conversations with thousands of people over my 38 years. I have yet to meet one that is free of hate. The people I find the most disturbing are the ones that preach political correctness. These folks are usually harboring a rats nest of hate for others and they use political correctness to hide it. Some are filled with so much hate they make your average racist/bigot look like an angel.

What matters is how you treat people. I know a few local celebrities from this state that make Paula Deen look like a puppy when it comes to how they treat the little people of the world.

We have to remember what the real issue of the day is here. Somebody is out for money based on something they didn't get from Paula Deen what not a better way to get it or at least punish. My question to Lisa Jackson and others like her in that situation is: If working conditions are so bad, why didn't you stand up for yourself and walkout? Don't say money or secure employment. There always other jobs out there. Granted they may pay less but, at leat you have your self respect.

I have walked out of a job where verbal abuse was an issue. I gave them an opportunity to correct it and things never changed. So I got a little payback, I walked out during one of the busy periods. I went back on payday turned in my uniform and picked up my check. They begged me to comeback and even apologized. I told them not not but hell no. Not even if they doubled my wage. My self respect meant more then the job. At the end of the day your self respect should mean more than any job. Not to mention, you should manage your money so you have the option of leaving when the workplace goes south.

Again it appears we see a double standard from one side that cries "racist" for Paula Deen's forgiveness request when on the other side you have applauded rap artist who use vile and discriminatory lyrics that are FAR worse than PD's.


Dont fall into the trap of thinking like this - If you really look at this situation, like so many other of these non issue situations 99.5% of black people dont care.

Its media fueled manufactured outrage at its finest.

--

To the lawsuit, all employers (no matter large or small) have legal responsibilities to keep workplaces free from harassment or abuse. Everyone is talking about age discrimination now days, its like an ex employee filing an age discrimination suit and then the media coming out and asking an employer if he ever called old people prunes. It sounds ridiculous because it is. The media is spinning this into way more than it needs to be.

I don't get it at all. Just another reason public opinion means little to nothing to me. The 'public' are a bunch of hypocritical flakes for the most part.

I never really had much of an opinion of Paula Deen prior to this, but I'm more likely to buy into her brand now simply out of protest to all her irrational detractors.

Another media created 'news story' that has no merit for newsworthiness IMO.That's exactly what I did and I'm continuing to do.

I don't get it at all. Just another reason public opinion means little to nothing to me. The 'public' are a bunch of hypocritical flakes for the most part.

I never really had much of an opinion of Paula Deen prior to this, but I'm more likely to buy into her brand now simply out of protest to all her irrational detractors.

Another media created 'news story' that has no merit for newsworthiness IMO.

Agreed. I dare say that NOBODY who grew up in the era she did would not have used at least ONE racial slight. It was the way of the world back then.

I wonder if Anthony Bourdain has changed his opinion of her now?

You know Anthony has used that word before and he's all over TV.

I wonder if President Obama has ever used that word or any other racial slur? This could be the Tea Party's path to get him out of the White House.... Then again most of them have probably used a few slurs themselves....... OH THE HUMANITY OF IT ALL!!!!!

When did she use the racial slurs? If it was recent that's one thing but if it's years ago it's another.

When did she use the racial slurs? If it was recent that's one thing but if it's years ago it's another.

It was when they fired her. She said

"All right now y'all. I'm fixin to step outside to mah Escalade and git mah nye-uhn (That's 9 for you that don't speak Southern) and I'm goin'tah shoot every one of ya ******* when I get back in here y'all!

Some networks keep trying to re-invent themselves. Pushing out the old guard is one of their tricks.

Ive had the pleasure of venturing more than 10 miles outside Atlanta GA. Anyone who has done this will hear the , N, word every other sentence. Considering her age and when she was raised, she probably was raised hearing the word constantly....no doubt used it.

C'mon. Paula Deen isn't that old. Using the N word in public, unless you're African American, has been a fairly universal no no since she was a baby. And, regardless of how many African-Americans use it, it is still not proper for me to do so, IMO. However, if she used it in the distant past, we can cut her a bit of slack. Everybody is allowed the opportunity to grow beyond their upbringing. If it was recent, then shame on her and I have no problem with what her network did.

Food Network really didn't fire her they just chose not to renew her contract. For all we know that might have been the easy way out for them because they planned on offering her less money.

Across the board TV networks are losing money because fewer people are setting down to watch TV thanks to internet options or just the simple fact of the matter that TV in general is becoming pretty redundant. Food Network is the same stuff over and over again. To tell you the truth I don't that many people that really watch it anymore.

The best thing Paula Deen could do is to take a long summer vacation and stay out of the lime light for a few months. By September people will have forgotten about this and have been focused on grilling someone else.

C'mon. Paula Deen isn't that old. Using the N word in public, unless you're African American, has been a fairly universal no no since she was a baby. And, regardless of how many African-Americans use it, it is still not proper for me to do so, IMO. However, if she used it in the distant past, we can cut her a bit of slack. Everybody is allowed the opportunity to grow beyond their upbringing. If it was recent, then shame on her and I have no problem with what her network did.

True, except for where she's from, to have never said the word, which is all she said she did, answering honestly got her fired. If she had said that she had never ever said the word, we all would know she was lying, but political correctness would win the day and I bet she'd still be on the Food Network. What's become of things?

What's become of things?

I've never been a fan of Paula Deen (or either of her "ba-wees" who show up from time to time to cook with her).
Her overdone southern accent makes my skin crawl and I think she uses too much butter and salt when she cooks.
I was even a little amused when she got hit in the head with that frozen ham at some publicity event a while back.

However: You can put me down as an EX-Food Network viewer thanks to the way they handled this issue. In fact, I'm even cancelling my subscription to their magazine.

(Create TV and regular PBS have better cooking shows anyways. =)

C'mon. Paula Deen isn't that old. Using the N word in public, unless you're African American, has been a fairly universal no no since she was a baby. And, regardless of how many African-Americans use it, it is still not proper for me to do so, IMO. However, if she used it in the distant past, we can cut her a bit of slack. Everybody is allowed the opportunity to grow beyond their upbringing. If it was recent, then shame on her and I have no problem with what her network did.Well she's my age and I can surely attest to the fact that word was very commonly used both privately and publicly here in Oklahoma during my childhood and really through the 1960's depending upon where you were. But I remember people having KKK membership cards in their wallets as late as the early 1970's.

Now my parents did not use the word and did not allow me to say it either. But both sets of my grandparents used it and with no real malice in mind.

My understanding of the Paula Deen situation is that she was accused of using the word privately in 2007 in a lawsuit deposition and when subsequently asked if she had used the word at times she answered affirmatively.

Certainly not surprising to me.

Why should I give a fiddler's fart about anything Paula Deen ever said. This is just silly.

Eh who cares. Her food is nothing special and she is just another Food Network brand. They create new ones every year and she'll be replaced easily.

If she said it in malice, that is one thing. If she said it as just a normal tone then whatever. People get too bent out of shape over taboo words. It all comes down to the context of it. To me, "retard" is probably the more offensive than most but people say it without thinking twice.

The whole plantation-themed wedding bit was pretty stupid, but not really something I find myself caring that much about. I never liked her food or watched her show to begin with, so I'm not exactly losing out.

From Food Network's POV, they desperately try to keep a hold of a TV-G rating, so it's not surprising that they'd cut ties with her after this. It also wouldn't surprise me if it was just temporary waiting for the press to blow over, just like they did with Robert Irvine.

On the whole double standard argument, there is one, but to argue that it's the same thing when an urban black black person says it and an old white guy from the south says it really just says that you don't think that context and history matter with the words people say. I really don't think there's much of a reason to complain about it, given the history of what the word means and what it meant for a culture to be able to find solidarity behind co-opting the word.

The lawsuit claims she made these slurs in 2007 and she's been on the Food Network for quite a bit longer than that.

I believe she merely admitted to using slurs in the past but didn't necessarily admit that she did them in 2007.

When someone has a 'theme' and then health reasons lead them to change it (look at star jones and other celebs that lost alot of weight), their ratings drop and then the station goes around looking for reasons to drop them. I wouldnt be surprised if another plump southern belle is already lined up to take her place. Speaking of which, i watched Trisha's show and really enjoy it, its nice because its southern but not over the top.

Like so many others here, i never really cared for her show or the over the top accents, but this whole thing is past stupid. The execs at the station should just have some balls to just not renew her instead of acting offended for all black people.

On the whole double standard argument, there is one, but to argue that it's the same thing when an urban black black person says it and an old white guy from the south says it really just says that you don't think that context and history matter with the words people say. I really don't think there's much of a reason to complain about it, given the history of what the word means and what it meant for a culture to be able to find solidarity behind co-opting the word.
Why is it alright for one segment of the population to use and and not others? If it isn't "allowed" for one it shouldn't be "allowed" for all. I have also known some black people who don't think twice about using slurs for Caucasians, Hispanics or Asians that would take offense if any of those groups used the supposed banned word for blacks. Why is that not a double standard and why don't they see it as one?

C'mon. Paula Deen isn't that old. Using the N word in public, unless you're African American, has been a fairly universal no no since she was a baby. And, regardless of how many African-Americans use it, it is still not proper for me to do so, IMO. However, if she used it in the distant past, we can cut her a bit of slack. Everybody is allowed the opportunity to grow beyond their upbringing. If it was recent, then shame on her and I have no problem with what her network did.

Have to respectfully disagree, Betts. I am not kidding when I say all you have to do is go to her native Georgia and go 10 miles out of the populated part of Atlanta. It is almost weird how it changes and if you are north of Atlanta, see how backwards it is on top of the ridges vs. in the valley's. I have relatives there who still talk about the "War between the States" as though it happened 20 years ago. I admit I still don't know the full story about this incident but she could have spent half her life in Georgia using the word as a normal part of her vocabulary.

Why is it alright for one segment of the population to use and and not others? If it isn't "allowed" for one it shouldn't be "allowed" for all. I have also known some black people who don't think twice about using slurs for Caucasians, Hispanics or Asians that would take offense if any of those groups used the supposed banned word for blacks. Why is that not a double standard and why don't they see it as one?

You are greatly missing the point here, so many people have pointed it out.

What black people do you know who are personally offended with what Paula Deen said years ago?..........

Are blacks protesting in the street over paula deen? is their an online petition to fire her? did your black friend/neighbor/co worker say that they are losing sleep over something Deen said years ago?

NO!


The problem is the media they turn everything into something more than it needs to be. To be bluntly honest over the years ive noticed this more and more after it was pointed to me, white people walk around looking for things to be offended about for other races and then; they'll turn right back around and say that (insert mexicans, blacks, chinese, etc) are being too sensitive.

Go read any news story comment on this, the only ones that i've seen where someone identified themselves as black have said that this whole thing is ridiculous. The rest are comments by dumb white people saying how blacks are too sensitive???? Just completely ignoring the comment one line about where a black person said it was dumb??

Yeah it confuses me too.

End rant/

I agree that it is more of a media creation than anything else, there is a whole lot of time to fill in the 24 hour news cycle.

Have to respectfully disagree, Betts. I am not kidding when I say all you have to do is go to her native Georgia and go 10 miles out of the populated part of Atlanta. It is almost weird how it changes and if you are north of Atlanta, see how backwards it is on top of the ridges vs. in the valley's. I have relatives there who still talk about the "War between the States" as though it happened 20 years ago. I admit I still don't know the full story about this incident but she could have spent half her life in Georgia using the word as a normal part of her vocabulary.


FWIW, one need not go near as far as GA where Deen is from to see pretty much the same attitudes, and spanning several generations. There is slightly less intensity on the War of Northern Aggression floating around our little patch of hills, lakes and prairies, but yeah, you'll find the same w/o ever crossing a state line.

Would it be fair to say that the actions of The Food Network Czars were niggardly in regard to common sense?
Controversies about the word "niggardly" - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22)

Or are they more like those of your typical knee-jerk, spineless, "politically 'correct'" corporate douchebags?

Probably it's the latter.

The latter...but that is what happens when the founders of niche networks sell out to media conglomerates. Every niche network has gone downhill content wise after being swallowed up and the original visionary founders were run out. I understand the desire to cash out, can't really blame them but what the corporate overloads do to these networks afterwards is counter to everything they were built on.

Anymore the news networks in this country have pretty much gotten away from covering new the old school way. They pretty much run a gossip service that guesstimates the outcomes of every news story with boring panels of blabber mouths.

When I used to watch the cable news channels I usually did it for background noise while I cleaned the house or paid the bills. Now that I have a massive iTunes library I listen to music instead. The question I always was asking myself was "When are they going to stop beating this dead horse and move on to the next topic. The only time wall to wall coverage should happen is when there is a natural disaster or state of emergency at the federal level. Other than that, move on I don't care what your opinion is of the current bill in the house or senate. Tell me the facts of the bill and move on.

I give it maybe 5 years and 24 hour TV news will be a thing of the past. Were almost to the point where just about everybody carries a smart phone, has a computer or an email address where they can catch the breaking news of the day. There is no longer a need to sit down at schedule times of day to catch the news. You can now catch the news anytime you want and go do something more meaningful with your time.

The latter...but that is what happens when the founders of niche networks sell out to media conglomerates. Every niche network has gone downhill content wise after being swallowed up and the original visionary founders were run out. I understand the desire to cash out, can't really blame them but what the corporate overloads do to these networks afterwards is counter to everything they were built on.

A perfect example is the Weather Channel. The place people used to go to see a realtime weather report. Now your lucky if you can find out the 5 day forecast. Last summer I was trying to find information on a storm that was moving through the area. It was sunday afternoon so the local guys were not on the air because it was one of those storms that just pops up every now and then causing a little damage. I flip over to the weather channel and all I am seeing docudrama with this morbidly obese lady talking about how she stupidly drove into a flooding tunnel in a heavy rainstorm. To top it off she used the traditional line "The water didn't look like it was that deep."

A perfect example is the Weather Channel. The place people used to go to see a realtime weather report. Now your lucky if you can find out the 5 day forecast."

Except, of course, for "Your Weather on The Eights" . . . =)

(when i used to watch The Food Network--before the Paula Deen Tempest in a Teapot--it seemed as if, to catch a program about actual cooking, you had to watch before 5:00pm. i think they jumped the shark when they dumped Emeril.)

I think it is interesting to see there is still this north/south divide in some of the rural areas of the south. I've been subject to the comments a few times being a "Yankee" and I think I just got one of those confused puppy looks on my face. That these feelings keep getting passed down from generation to generation doesn't really speak well for the educational development of those in less urban areas. Ah well.

For whatever reason, Deen has been targeted and villified in the media over the last year or two. First it was the "buttah" in all her recipies, then her diabetes, now this. Methinks there's been a desire to get her out at FN, or at least push her to the edge of her contract, and get her out. I'm no big Deen fan myself; always thought the southern business was waaaay overplayed. The reality, though, is that in any other circle or time she'd be heralded as a triumphant example of strong womanhood; her history is one of a single mom who's husband left her with two boys to raise, and she did so by starting a door-to-door sandwich business. That later became a restaurant, which old-time Food Network producer Gordon Elliot picked up on, did the research on her, and made her a "food celebrity" in the first place.

Now Food Network has reduced itself to a dozen varying incarnations of "Restaurant Stakeout" and multiple ways to show Giada D's cleavage, and Deen is out for something she admitted to having said in time past, arising from the vernacular used during the era and area in which she was raised. That's completely screwed up.

I think it is interesting to see there is still this north/south divide in some of the rural areas of the south. I've been subject to the comments a few times being a "Yankee" and I think I just got one of those confused puppy looks on my face. That these feelings keep getting passed down from generation to generation doesn't really speak well for the educational development of those in less urban areas. Ah well.
The same mentality can exist anywhere, it has nothing to do with "urban" or "rural". There are many northerners that have no qualms demeaning anything "southern" or anything in "fly over country" or they even direct it at rural northerners. Most of the ethnic strife in Eastern Europe has been passed down for generations going back hundreds of years, the only thing that reduced it was Communist dictatorships in power. Their fear of the gov't suppressed their hatred of each other for 50 or so years. Then you have the tribal hatreds in the Arab and African regions that have gone on for more than a thousand years. For some people it is just human nature and will never be eradicated completely.

Why is it alright for one segment of the population to use and and not others? If it isn't "allowed" for one it shouldn't be "allowed" for all. I have also known some black people who don't think twice about using slurs for Caucasians, Hispanics or Asians that would take offense if any of those groups used the supposed banned word for blacks. Why is that not a double standard and why don't they see it as one?

Why is it OK for your parents to have a pet name for you that you don't want your friends to use? Or, to ask another way, why do you think that context has no importance in defining what people say? ON it's own, a word is just a word, the only reason it has any value in society is because of the context of it. Part of that context is the history behind it. To argue that the context is the same for everyone using the word just isn't realistic.

If black people are using slurs for others, but are upset when one is used for them, then it is hypocrisy. As for why they don't see that, I don't know, I can't read their mind. But that doesn't remove the importance of context in language and what it means for some black people to be able to co-opt a word that was long used as a slur by people who treated them as the drudges of society.

An interesting read:
An Open Letter to Paula Deen | Afroculinaria (http://afroculinaria.com/2013/06/25/an-open-letter-to-paula-deen/)

excerpt:

... I am currently engaged in a project I began in 2011 called The Cooking Gene Project—my goal to examine family and food history as the descendant of Africans, Europeans and Native Americans—enslaved people and enslavers—from Africa to America and from Slavery to Freedom. You and I are both human, we are both Americans, we are both quite “healthily” built, and yet none of these labels is more profound for me than the fact we are both Southern. Sweet tea runs in our blood, in fact is our blood…What I understand to be true, a lot of your critics don’t…which is, as Southerners our ancestors co-created the food and hospitality and manners which you were born to 66 years ago and I, thirty-six. In the words of scholar Mechal Sobel, this was “a world they made together,” but beyond that, it is a world we make together. So I speak to you as a fellow Southerner, a cousin if you will, not as a combatant. ...

Reading an interesting (older) opinion by an Oklahoma appellate court judge while doing some research..... Apparently Deen wasn't the only person yelling the 'N' word in the late 70's early 80's..... The opinion involves two Oklahoma City police officers that were found to have conducted an illegal search and seizure and false imprisonment of a female - a black female, whose color apparently did not go unnoticed by the two responding Oklahoma City officers.

Judge quote: ...while being crammed in by the policemen her brother came up. "Back that N....r [insert 'N' word] off," barked one of the officers.

It doesn't identify which officer said the 'N' word, but one of those officers is identified as Oklahoma City Police Officer William 'Bill' Citty. Yep, the same officer Citty who is now OKC Police Chief Bill Citty.

I don't get it at all. Just another reason public opinion means little to nothing to me. The 'public' are a bunch of hypocritical flakes for the most part.

I never really had much of an opinion of Paula Deen prior to this, but I'm more likely to buy into her brand now simply out of protest to all her irrational detractors.

Another media created 'news story' that has no merit for newsworthiness IMO.
And reportedly others feel the same as sales of her books including a recent release have skyrocketed on Amazon

Except, of course, for "Your Weather on The Eights" . . . =)
And even the true "Weather on The Eights" is sometimes difficult to find...they used to edit special programming so the breaks happened on the 8s, now they ignore them...granted they have some of the info at the bottom of the screen, but you dont get the live radar etc.

Regarding her interview with Matt Lauer...she's not going to have a stone cast at her cause I can guarantee every single American who knows what the word is and how it is used has used it at one time or another...especially if they grew up in the days of White Suburbia listening to rap music. I listen to rap music.

I think I heard that Walmart is jumping on The Dumbass Dump Paula Deen Knee-Jerk Pseudo-Offended Bandwagon.

I'm glad that I've already been conducting a nearly complete boycott of Walmart for decades.
(but, dang, their rotiscerre chicken sure is good . . . and them ciabatta rolls they sometimes sell . . . =)

I read a summary of the full complaints that are against her in the lawsuit... yeah, if this is true, it goes beyond just using the word.


Summary:

Paula Deen, while planning her brother's wedding in 2007, was asked what look the wedding should have. She replied, "I want a true southern plantation-style wedding." When asked what type of uniforms the servers should wear, Paula stated, "well what I would really like is a bunch of little n*ggers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around;

Black staff had to use the back entrance to enter and leave restaurant;

Black staff could only use one bathroom;

Black staff couldn’t work the front of the restaurants;

Brother Bubba stated his wishes: “ I wish I could put all those n*ggers in the kitchen on a boat to Africa”;

Bubba asked a black driver and security guard "don’t you wish you could rub all the black off you and be like me? You just look dirty; I bet you wish you could." The guy told Bubba he was fine as is;

Bubba on President Obama: they should send him to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, so he could n*gger-rig it;

He shook an employee (Black again) and said” F your civil rights…you work for me and my sister Paula Deen;

Paula’s son Jaime's best friend managed the Lady & Sons restaurant. He threatened to fire all the 'Monkeys' in the kitchen. When Paula found out…she slapped him on the wrist and suggested that the employee visited Paula's $13,000,000 mansion so he felt special and could be massaged.


The Paula Deen Incident; you should know all that's being alleged before defending her (http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.aspx?artclid=7dfdbe0461)

I read a summary of the full complaints that are against her in the lawsuit... yeah, if this is true, it goes beyond just using the word.



The Paula Deen Incident; you should know all that's being alleged before defending her (http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.aspx?artclid=7dfdbe0461)

I can see why she is getting dumped...National companies cannot be associated with that lovely story

wow...i feel pretty pissed at myself for defending her.

now i see why she's been so distraught over the whole thing and crying like a fool over '1 thing 20 years ago', and so worried about her sponsors.if she did end up making these claims i hope the people clean her out and send her back to where she came from.

I read a summary of the full complaints that are against her in the lawsuit... yeah, if this is true, it goes beyond just using the word.



The Paula Deen Incident; you should know all that's being alleged before defending her (http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.aspx?artclid=7dfdbe0461)

If, what is written here, is true, then Ms. Deen probably deserves the punishment she is getting now.

However, I am finding this a little to outrageous to quite take it as believable......a Plantation style wedding - sure. All the servants dressed in little suits a la Shirley Temple styles, back door treatments, etc.........ehh. That sounds just a wee bit too much to be taken as the whole truth. Ms. Deen, no doubt, has a very strong personality that could probably irritate a lot of people. The person who is making these accusations could easily be disgruntled and take a little bit of the truth and stretch it like Grammas Salt Water Taffee.

If she was truly making all of these clearly racist-based plans, there would have been a lot of others privy to them. Lets see if someone else backs them up or shows some proof.

If, what is written here, is true, then Ms. Deen probably deserves the punishment she is getting now.

However, I am finding this a little to outrageous to quite take it as believable......a Plantation style wedding - sure. All the servants dressed in little suits a la Shirley Temple styles, back door treatments, etc.........ehh. That sounds just a wee bit too much to be taken as the whole truth. Ms. Deen, no doubt, has a very strong personality that could probably irritate a lot of people. The person who is making these accusations could easily be disgruntled and take a little bit of the truth and stretch it like Grammas Salt Water Taffee.

If she was truly making all of these clearly racist-based plans, there would have been a lot of others privy to them. Lets see if someone else backs them up or shows some proof.

It is so ludicrous that it almost makes me think it's crazy, but I've learned never to overestimate human behavior. I would agree that someone would need to corroborate, but at the very least, it does shed a new light on the fact that the complaints do at least go beyond using a slur sometime in the past.

Society has lost its frickin' mind.

That is all.

There were several red flags in the link IMO. For one, like it or not, don't expect to get a non-bias opinion from a source that refers to itself as "Black Legal Issues; News and legal commentary impacting the black communities." I you replaced 'black' with 'white' they'd be labeled a racist organization and burned to the ground (literally and figuratively). Second, you have a lawyer who makes no attempt to cast any reality on his piece by reminding people that this is a lawsuit about money and targets a billion dollar empire and there is reason to call into question any and all accusations until they can be vetted in a court of law.

Third, the author wants us to damn Paula for the actions of her relatives.

Sorry, but this didn't change my mind. Show me a witness who wants no cash that says she had a black only restroom etc. and then you might get my attention.

The source of the link was mainly because it was the first I found that had the specific complaints listed, and it was a baffling collection that, if true, completely vaults it above getting upset at her for using a "black word." It does need to be taken with a grain of salt, of course, and the lawsuit will likely sort it out if it is crap. As the relative comment goes, he's not just her brother, he's the manager of one of her restaurants and if, and it is a big if, this is true than she would be at the least be implicitly condoning these actions. The complaints are that there's a history of it, and if there is and she's at the head, then it does fall onto her.

But it's also just as possible that this is a pathetic cash grab from someone who heard about the plantation wedding idea and thinks she can get money out of it because the public will automatically side against the celebrity being sued for racism as long as she makes the story big enough, which she succeeded in doing.

As a brother she's forgiven, but know the whole truth why many blacks are upset. The Paula Deen Incident; you should know all that's being alleged before defending her
Daryl K. Washington Jun-29-2013 397825 0

- See more at: The Paula Deen Incident; you should know all that's being alleged before defending her (http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.aspx?artclid=7dfdbe0461#sthash.b9y OyuuJ.EgWxULpF.dpuf)

I became skeptical of Paula Deen from the git go. She said mashed
potatoes and gravy should accompany fried chicken. Blasphemy. No
true Southerner would serve mashed potatoes and gravy with
fried chicken.

Prunepicker,
Long time since we have talked. I am a true Southerner, and my family has always prepared mashed potatoes and gravy with fried chicken. My friend from Selma Al., serves mashed potatoes and gravy with fried chicken, and my good buddy from Alabama/Florida wouldn't eat fried chicken without mashed potatoes and gravy. I'm not a fan of Paula Deen, not my style of chef show, but she is a Southerner and I think she does know her cooking. And as for some of the other comments (and that's what this group is about, opinions), I believe she is innocent until the jury proves that she is guilty.
C. T.
I became skeptical of Paula Deen from the git go. She said mashed
potatoes and gravy should accompany fried chicken. Blasphemy. No
true Southerner would serve mashed potatoes and gravy with
fried chicken.

I won't pretend to know how his mind works or what PP might consider a true southern, but, uh, poppycock, hogwarsh and balderdash on mashed taters and gravy and fried chicken not being plate buddies.

As for Ms. Paula, like most things, the truth of how extensive, or non-extensive, comments and attitudes may have been will likely come fully out into the light.

My mother learned to cook in my grandmother's rural southern kitchen. Our kitchen was so southern we ate grits fried in bacon grease which came from the can kept on the back of the stove.

Mashed potatoes were served with just about everything but especially fried chicken.

The idea that they don't go together naturally could only come from somebody who isn't a true southerner and hasn't spent any time in or around southern kitchens.

But you knew that already.

My mother learned to cook in my grandmother's rural southern kitchen. Our kitchen was so southern we ate grits fried in bacon grease which came from the can kept on the back of the stove.

Mashed potatoes were served with just about everything but especially fried chicken.

The idea that they don't go together naturally could only come from somebody who isn't a true southerner and hasn't spent any time in or around southern kitchens.

But you knew that already. Amen to that! lol

Have to differ from PP on this one - my great grandmother came into this world in South Texas near San Antonio and was the world's finest cook, bar none. I am sure no one else's great grandmother could rival her :) She regularly cooked up southern fried chicken and the only thing that tasted better was the mashed potatoes and gravy she always dished up right along with it. I think I would kill for her gravy.

I became skeptical of Paula Deen from the git go. She said mashed
potatoes and gravy should accompany fried chicken. Blasphemy. No
true Southerner would serve mashed potatoes and gravy with
fried chicken.

nice try, ivan. your kgb handlers trained you well... but not well enough. -M

nice try, ivan. your kgb handlers trained you well... but not well enough. -M

Brilliance.

Utter Brilliance.