Not everybody has a national audience.
The only thing Dean is sorry about is losing all those lucrative endorsements like that shitty cookware she pimps for.
Good thing SCOTUS just gutted the VRA, since all you have to do is stick yer head out a window, any day of the week, and observe for yourself that things have changed, ladies and gentlemen! :rolleyes:
Let’s just thank the God that doesn’t exist that Robert Byrd wasn’t treated like Paula Deen.
After all, he changed and became an amazing former klanman that just happened to be a Dem.
She obviously was making crackers and quit making brownies because she was an evil white devil.
Anecdote: Umpteen thousand years ago, back in nineteen and seventy nine, (just a few days after the Woh-ah of Nohthen Aggression ended,) my family staged the Annual Big To-Do for my great-grandmother’s 91st birthday. By this time, Granny had been beautifully cared-for in a nursing home in Alma, Georgia for almost three years, having suffered a broken hip and multiple strokes at age 88. As was traditional back in those days, my grandmother had gifted Granny with a lovely new dressing gown, and one of the woefully underpaid nursing assistants had helped Granny dress for the Annual Fete. (Seriously, pre-stroke, Granny’s birthday parties usually numbered 100+ guests. At the nursing home, our family catered it for all residents, we invited the staff, and we kids delivered food to any bed-bound residents.)
So, as Granny was wheeled out from her room by this lovely and underpaid nurse, my Aunt Barbara (incidentally, of the very same vintage as Paula Deen,) noticed that Granny was (uncharacteristically) wearing a lovely strand of crimson beads and matching “earbobs.” Aunt Barbara - a Southern lady to her very core - inquired of the jewelry’s origins, thinking perhaps that they had been a birthday gift. In a way, they were: while being assisted with her toilette, Granny had admired the aide’s jewelry, at which point the (African-American) nurse asked Granny whether she would like to wear them. A sweet gesture, which was spoiled by Granny’s (stroke-influenced) answer about the jewelry’s origin:
“Stole 'em off a nigger.”
I will never, ever forget the look on Aunt Barbara’s face. She was nearly in tears as she tried to apologize for her addled grandmother’s use of that word. The aide could not have been kinder in excusing Granny’s language, saying that it was a product of her ill-health. And it truly was - by that time, Granny’s wheelchair was her “l’il ole car.” She sometimes cussed her doctors (and Granny Did. Not. Cuss.) She had never stolen anything that anyone was aware of, and worked her way up from a young homeless widow with 5 daughters to owning her farm outright and co-signing loans for her brothers. Even under those circumstances, even back in those days, a now-66-year-old woman from the small-town Deep South knew that the N Word was offensive. And I, as a 10-year-old observer knew that it was.
And all of that is a very long way for me to say that I call Bullshit* on PD’s claims that she used that word once, and doesn’t know it’s offensive. If even half of the claims made in the lawsuit against Paula and Bubba are true, then they should, in fairness, pay out at least one substantial claim. Honestly, I’m shocked that the Deen/Hiers’ attorneys didn’t move for a settlement, all things considered.
*Unlike Granny, I cuss often and sometimes creatively. But I don’t use the N Word, because I’m not a trashy bitch.
My In-Laws are supporting Paula, without one word of “she didn’t mean it in a bad way.” Because every one of them, (mid 50s - 60s,) are racist jackasses. One of my S-I-Ls once notified security at her workplace, and demanded they call the bomb squad, because a black coworker left her handbag in the restroom.
As anyone read any of the court dispositions? Paula Deen is getting railed and it’s ridiculous! First off, all the so called separate entrance and bathrooms for black employees are allegations made by the plaintiff. Paula Deen denies them. As for the ones she admits to, using the N-word and talking about southern themed wedding that mimicked and experience she had at another southern restaurant.
First off, she admits to using the N-word decades ago. The one time she recounts using was in talking about a black buy that held her at gun point when recounting the story to her husband in her home. I’m not condoning the use of the word, but I don’t see why all the hoopla over her saying 30 years ago. It’s like someone calling me a cracker, 20 years later getting famous, sometime in during this time to word becomes super offensive then and 15 years after that being judged for it. She wasn’t screaming it from the mountain tops. Is Paula Deen racist, I’m sure she is? Did she treat people poorly and present as a racist? Well since the person that is suing wrote her a really nice letter thanking her for all Paula has done for her just a few months before suing her, it’s questionable. Also the Plantiff informs she never hear Paula Deen say anything racist or sexist.
About the southern themed wedding, she talks about how she would like to recreate an experience she had in another southern restaurant. She dismissed the idea because she thought people would read into it because this place had middle aged black men in all white suits waiting on people. I guess I see the black server/slave here as playing a role. Obviously they are paid (well apparently) to recreate a civil war/old south era and not slaves. Racist, sure, but I equate this to directors hiring people to play the role of slaves in movies. She only ever mentioned it as a hypothetical and immediately dismissed it. For people that don’t know, that era in southern times is looked fondly on by many in the south and not because there were slaves but because of culture and the prominence of the south at the time. Sure it was impossible to have without slaves, but people are looking to recreate that part of it.
Lastly, remember, this court case is concerning the working environment a restaurant Paula owns part of and is owned by her brother. Paula is just the money behind it and if you think Paula was working in this place or every had anything to do with the day to day operations, you are naive. If this stuff was going on, it’s seems perfectly reasonable that Paula could not have been aware of it.
This is a classic case of the media cherry picking the information and this the massive copy and pasting the story by every other outlet without any investigation of the actual story. This particular story originated in the National Inquirer. This is not a paper I read but if I recall, it’s reputation for reliability is suspect at best. Don’t let the media fool you people.
Why should we take Paula Deen’s word for it that she and her son aren’t racist jackasses?
Jackson’s complaints have been corroborated by others. There is plenty of incentive for a black coworker to step forward and say Jackson is full of shit if this were indeed true, but this hasn’t happened (as far as I know). And since Jackson is not black, why would she go out of her way to levy an accusation of racial harrassment? The sexual harrassment is bad enough for a nice payday.
And this didn’t happen 30 years ago. This happened last year. A person who can joke around like this isn’t some innocent flower.
Hi, Paula!
According to the morning news Deen’s products (whatever they may be) are selling very well just now.
Possibly people want to get in on her saturated fat before it’s taken off the shelves at Wal-Mart and other places.
I read the documents; we’ll see what the court decides. But “just” being the money behind the place would be an incredibly stupid attitude for her to take. She is part-owner and is partly responsible for what happens, at the very very least because what goes on there reflects on her, or at minimum, the day someone took her brother to court and he had to pay damages, it would hurt her investment. And now it’s doing just that.
As I said before, I never cared much for her personally (I’m sure she’s crushed, I know), but I wrote her off when I discovered that she’d concealed diabetes for years. So it doesn’t matter to me directly what she says or feels about black people, but I do hope that if the plaintiffs in this case are legit, they do see damages from her and her brother. She’s shown some incredibly stupid behaviors in how she carries out her business dealings, and something major was bound to happen at some point.
Jackson’s words and testimony said Paula didn’t use racist language or discriminate. Her issue is the work evironment in the restaurant she was managing. The media is spinning this as though Paula is a raging racist. This apparently aided by the plaintiff and her attorney in taking the story to the National Enquirer. The work environment may have been poor and Paula’s brother may have had something to do with that but Paula herself is at best a 3rd party silent partner that provided funding for the restaurant and may do some publicity for it to boost business.
Have you watched the video you posted? She talks about how her great grand father kills himself after losing the slaves and his son in the war and being unable to take the changes the “terrific changes”. Many Southerns feel as though they are less prejudice than other parts of the country and have are singled out because of slavery and segregation. Many, especially older Southerns felt like slaves had it good and were taken care of. I am not saying I agree with those sentiments. To me it seems like typical old self jusification to bad behavior, but a lot in the South do have those feelings. The guy the joke was directed to, she goes on to introduce, says he is like a son and she would do anything for him. At the end she say color has nothing to do with it. Nobody said she was an innocent flower but innocent flowers joke like that among friends all the time. Similar jokes were likely going on like that among the staff at the restaurant Jackson was working. It occurred at every restaurant I have every worked at.
It’s funny that you ask why believe Paula and her brother. I turn it around. Why should we believe Jackson’s accusations? She is the one that is suppose to provide proof. Jackson’s own words tell us Paula was not racist or discriminatory and she wrote her a letter thanking her for all Paula had done and the chances she got.
Pure gold.
I don’t believe she has taken that stance. If it reflects how she has done business very well. I find it incredibly unfair and irresponsible of the Media to portray her like they have. They have cheery picked parts and displayed them in an offensive context. A context that they were not originally communciated it.
Also, who cares if she concealed her diabetes. She developed a medical issue that she chose to keep private for a period of time. Seems like that is her business. She was never in the health food market. She was in the southern food market which is known to be unhealthy. Also, the cause if diabetes is unknown. There are several risk factors, but no causal relationship has been found connecting a high fat diet to Type 2 diabetes.
You’re the one who said she’s just the money behind the restaurant. Money means a ton, and testimony (not just from Jackson!) has said that Deen allegedly knew of the issues and did nothing, or if she did anything in private, it had no effect.
Weight sure is a factor in development of type-2 diabetes (and she uses a whole ton of sugar and other “carbs” in her cooking), and I find it questionable at best that she released her kid-centric lunch box cookbook around or just before she was diagnosed, then chose to remain quiet for a few years. It would really have sucked to have those parents stop buying her cookbook - so they couldn’t make her calorie-laden lunches for their dear children - during the height of the publicity for the new publication!
Don’t forget the rest of the quote.
“I am not saying I agree with those sentiments. To me it seems like typical old self jusification to bad behavior, but a lot in the South do have those feelings.”
Again, THE PLAINTIFF testified that Deen was never discriminatory and wrote a letter thanking her. Was the work environment bad? I don’t know. Does Paula Deen hold prejudiced views? Probably. Does it effect her treatment of people? No evidence of that. The media is ignoring the actual lawsuit in favor of miscontrued and cherry picked words.
Again I ask, if we can question Paula and her brother’s denial of being a jackass, why can’t we question the plaintiff’s accusations? Why immediately believe this woman that stands to make a lot of money and just accept that Paula and her brother are raging racist?
Then they are stupid. I don’t know how it works as a defense of Deen to say a lot in the South are stupid.
ETA: All you appear to be saying is that there are a passel of Southerners who can’t recognize racism. And you bring that up in defense of Paula Deen.
I’m not saying money doesn’t mean anything or that she shouldn’t be held responsible for the work environment. I’m saying the media’s portrayal is attempting to paint HER as a racist, which testimony doesn’t support. Your comment says it all, “Deen allegedly knew of the issues.” As in not confirmed yet and the court will determine her involvement and consequences if needed.
Obesity and Diabetes have a positive correlation. The cause of diabetes is unknown and the connection to obseity is uncertain. Correlation is not causation. Paula Deen’s career is southern food which is usually deep fried and sugar ladened. I believe someone’s health and medical issues are private and up to them when and where to share such information. If she chose to do it at times that were more beneficial to her so be it. She didn’t have to release the information at all. People don’t google a Paula Deen recipe for weight loss. They google it for something delicious, traditional and southern.
I just want to say I’m a huge fan— I know you have a *lot *of huge fans, but I’m trying to be the hugest— and that your chicken-fried lard medallions are to DIE for!
First it was Chick Fil A.
Now Paula Deen.
What’s next? Does “Simply Susan” hate Jews?
Does Samuel Adams hate Muslims?
Seriously people. I’m running out of food groups here.
Reposting from my Facebook page:
I wish I didn’t have quite the level of schadenfreude with Miz Paula that I have, but it goes way back and has little to do with her real or perceived racism. As a mostly-white southerner and occasional Georgian I view Paula Deen the same way that as a gay man I view Boy George getting coked up and beating up an escort or George Michael getting arrested in a men’s room or that as a rural Alabamian I view… well, any rural Alabamian who ever got on TV for any reason (other than perhaps Helen Keller). It’s the way I would guess that Michelle Obama views Flavor Flav, or that sane Minnesotans view Michelle Bachmann, or most humans view Andy Dick.
Though to her credit, unlike with most Southerners who make me cringe, with Paula it’s not political or religious for once so much as a uniquely southern flavored one woman “WHY WE FIGHT” propaganda film about stupidity and crassness.
While I’ve always found her annoying, I think what ultimately did it for me was when she was co-hosting a show in NYC with- Kathy Lee perhaps? She was asked what Broadway shows she’d seen while in NY and how she liked them.
Now, if she’d said “I’m not really a theater person”, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it other than “How can you not like theater?”, but, no debating taste and all that. Certainly if I were asked “Have you taken in any Mets or Yankees games and how’d you like them?” I wouldn’t think twice about saying “I don’t really care about sports”, BUT, emphasis, if any was needed, on the “I” part. I wouldn’t say “Well, I’m a homo, I don’t follow sports!” or “I’m from Alabama and Georgia and we dont’ give a shit about New York teams”.
What Paula said was “Welllllllllllllllllllll, I’m from Savannnnnnnnnnnnnnah Georrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgia, we don’t rally go in for the-AYT-er down there!!!”.
Of course I was barking at the screen, “SAVANNAH’S HAD A PROFESSIONAL THEATER SCENE SINCE BEFORE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION! THEY HAVE NUMEROUS PROFESSIONAL, COLLEGE, AMATEUR, AND TOURING PRODUCTIONS THERE EVERY YEAR! It’s close to Charleston which has many as well, and…
oh, just, hush thy hoecake hole thou foul and noisome conglomeration of hairspray, crudity, cholesterol and happy ignorance brought into something like sentience by being liberally injected with the butters of Satanic apathy and deep fried in the lard rendered from angels and benevolent fae slaughtered by your self-absorption and meritless egomania!”
Then of course when it was revealed she had the ‘sugar diabeetus’ and rather than admit it she sat on it for a years and then tried to say that instead of diet and outdated cooking habits it was brought about by cunnilingus with Wilford Brimley (or maybe it was from him… or maybe I’m confusing her with Michael Douglas…
In any case, the point is that while I thought Michael Douglas gave a stellar performance as Liberace and I hope it gets him awards, I thought the movie itself was ultimately empty and too grotesque by far to be a love story, but damn Matt Damon is hot. And Savannah has theater.
But please don’t misunderstand me: I can’t stand Paula Deen.
[Hijack]Whose leader yesterdaytweeted a “sad sad day for America” tweet, then deleted it.
The tweet I expected, but the cowardly deletion is what pisses me off. Be they newly minted Visigoth nobles or Texas oil barons or chicken magnates, I’d wager some variation of “white trash with money” have damaged more civilizations than gays ever will.[/Hijack]