Paula Deen Defends Use of N-Word: I 'Was Born 60 Years Ago'

I heard in passing on some news report that was briefly talking about her & what went down with her someone say that a multimedia business environment is the one place that truly doesn't tolerate any type of racism or bias on any level because everything is based on appealing to a wide & diverse market place. What's going on with her with all these company's choosing to no longer deal with her seems to to be proving that fact true for the most part.

 

I would agree. They can't afford to alienate any of their clientele. For example, look at Nordisk...

"On Thursday, the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk said it was suspending its use of Ms. Deen as a spokeswoman for the drug. The company, which has the top-selling portfolio of diabetes medications in the United States, has reached out vigorously to black Americans in its marketing and medical sponsorships."

So she really hit hard the heart of their targeted demographic.

Also, the previously mentioned Ballantine Books and her up-coming book they clxd... I read it has shot to #1 (FOUR months early) with online pre-orders. But despite that, they said buyers will get their money back, the book is toast. While it seems crazy they did it, it's a sound business decision since it was tied into a huge 5-book deal. As the NYT piece (below) noted, when they saw all the companies drop her they knew it translated to them refusing to carry her books in their stores to sell.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/b...hef-paula-deen.html?partner=yahoofinance&_r=0

This is a pretty good read, actually ^

 

There are some busineses who are sticking by her so they may not be big companies but, Paula is not hurting anytime soon.

 

Paula will still be here but supported by diehard fans.

 

I posted this question earlier and I don't think anyone addressed it.

Is it common practice to make depositions such as Paula's public? I think most of us agree that it wasn't so much what she admitted to in the deposition that brought her down, but rather her clumsy efforts to apologize. But why was the deposition made public in the first place?

 

Because she's a quasi-celebrity and in the "Love To See The Mighty Fall" society we live in someone got wind of what was in that deposition and because of who she was it was leaked. If she would have been some average caterer/restaurant owner we all know of course this would have not gotten any notice at all.

 

I'm very torn on this subject. I don't condone what she has admitted to in the past or what she has recently said. I felt embarrassed watching her trying to right the wrongs and failing miserably. But two things came to mind as I watched this unfold, one of them being what I mentioned above - had it not been made public, the resulting downfall wouldn't have happened. Someone saw an opportunity & seized it. And it's not just PD that's suffering - she has employees who will likely be out of jobs, too.

The second thing I wondered is how many of the companies she represented nixed her because of a true dislike for what she did, or simply because of the fear of negative consequences resulting in lost revenue? In other words, their bottom line is the real concern, but cloaking it in a stand against racism.

 

Very valid points here.

 

Good points. Just my POV on this but all things considered, once this went public it all fell on her to do major damage control & keep this from become the big mess that it has. As been mentioned several times before there were far better ways for her to handle this mess and preserve not only her image & "empire" but those in her employ who maybe suffering as well. The fact that she didn't take that into account herself before she opened her mouth and cut her own throat can also be seen in a way as a red flag as far as her being an employer. Again just my opinion.

 

On the other hand...

The fallout obviously has been really tragic for Deen, but I think we all know that there are some underlying things that I think we've overlooked, and this link provided grants us access to other things. She may have admitted something back then, but it doesn't mean she actually repented or sought some relevations.

http://aattp.org/hey-paula-deen-sympathizers-read-this-before-you-say-another-word-in-her-defense/​

A few of the complaints:

• 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.

 

Wow. I'm at a loss for words. If these allegations are true, I'm having very different thoughts about Paula Deen and family.

 

And that right there is the main reason she is catching all the backlash she is experiencing. The whole "Yeah I Said/Did Something That Was Bad, Big Deal, Move On" attitude she's displayed.

 

Her children claimed that they weren't brought up in a racist mentality. That's debatable as we don't know them personally, but I would insist on proclaiming that damage control has been damaged and there's little to no redemption.

Yeah...and now this came to light, I'm just not all for Deen's sympathies anymore.

 

Then if that were the case Paula Deen should have definitely come out with far more effective damage control than what she came out with. If you harbor no racist sentiments towards any group of people, even if you may have at one time, then you go out of your way to show & prove that to people. Especially if you had as much at stake as Paula Deen did.

 

Somebody told me that she donated to black charities and organizations. I'm looking around and no such thing exists. Sounds like another duped situation.

 

Do we know that all those allegations listed above are absolutely true? I can't believe that in this day and age, that an employer could get away with rules such as black employees using the back entrance only or not working the front of the house. That would've surely been brought to light before now? On the other hand, I can imagine her brother saying the things he's supposed to have said, sad to say.

 

These allegations are things that Deen hasn't confirmed, nor denied, so the possibility of that is very likely if we're talking about public figures who want to keep some level of "honesty."

 

It might have been a subtle thing. It may not of been enforced, but maybe whispered (to the white employees) to not use the same bathroom as the black ones.

 

It's the South. If people in this day & age are still romanticizing the whole Plantation Days/Civil War Era to the point they they are trying to re-write it as some noble golden age of Southern Aristocracy & patriotic fight of brave Southerners striving to maintain their way of life against a tyrannical government, why is it so hard to believe that there are people still engaging in ignorant outdated behavior towards black & other minorities since for some people that was/still an ingrained part of their culture?

 

Hello ches, how are you ???? I like your new photo on your avi.

When the feds investigate or are investigating someone, they do it for one or two years and will have mountains of evidence against you. They will only make a small part public so that you can save face, own up to it and move on. When you try to fight it is when EVERYTHING starts to come out.

In my hometown of Detroit, everyone thought the mayor was just guilty of having an extra-marital affair. When he tried to fight it is when EVERYTHING came out.