Paula Deen's use of the "N"-Word
 

Could Paula Deen's words bring down her empire?

I hope it does, because she's flat out a racist bitch.

The South that long ago was a different time and culture. Most don't hold it against folks like Robert E. Lee or many of the founding fathers that they actually owned slaves. She was simply a product of the culture she grew up in. If she's now reformed, I hardly see the relevance today.

As far as the antebellum restaurant concept... a little strange? Yeah. Does it necessarily mean she's racist if she was considering an antebellum concept that actually looked antebellum? Maybe? I dunno. To her credit, the idea was never more than a discussion.

I'm not sure I would call her a racist at this point, as I do think it's what is in the heart that determines if someone is racist or not, but what I find troubling is her comment about not really knowing what offends people.

She may be from a different generation, but this is not the 50's or 60's. It is 2013. Unless she has lived her life in a bubble, I'm not sure how she can not know that word would not be offensive, regardless in my opinion, of where you are from in the U.S.

I posted that on my Facebook yesterday. I never called her a racist, just that I did not understand how she could make such a comment about not knowing what offends people. Someone else argued the point, and I've left it where it is as it was obvious she didn't read the article.

I'm not sure if it will hurt her empire. I think it took a bit of a hit last year or so when the diabetes scandal came out. This certainly would not be positive PR for her.

She may, or may not, be a racist in the true sense of the word. But, she is definitely insensitive.

Not a smart move when you own a multi-million dollar company.

Looks like she is a no-show for the Today Show:

http://www.lex18.com/news/embattled-...WG1y54.twitter

I’ve been a Paula Deen fan for several years, so this is perplexing for me because it presents a side of her (if real) that would turn me off. I’m not generally a fan of excusing free-thinking people who hold horrid opinions simply because they were once the product of a certain culture, particularly, when they trade on their public personality/demeanor (and its origins) to advance their “brand” in the public space.

Ultimately the public will decide if she remains or falls based on this. I'll watch for her response, as will a lot of people who have previously appreciated her work.

I am less perplexed by her use of the N word (she is from the South, and I hear so many people use that word that is does not surprise me in the least, especially given her age.) than I am of her desire to hire a bunch of black men to serve at a "real" southern wedding to mimic slaves. That just goes too far for me. I have no way to explain that and make her come out looking like anything but a bigot.

The waiter thing was really weird. I can see wanting to hire middle aged wait staff. They'd probably be more professional and keep your event less stressful. But the only African American wait staff? I have no idea.

Wasn't she an agoraphobe who didn't leave her house for many years?

I can't believe that there are people in this thread (and elsewhere) defending her. Holy hell, people, you are a white woman and use the N-word with impunity, you are a racist.

With impunity? I don't believe I've read the same things you have. I read that she admitted to using the word "in the past" at a deposition, not that she uses it currently with impunity.

My father, who is around 70, grew up in NW Oklahoma. They had a black guy who worked for their family occasionally who went by "N_ Jim."

It was a different time.

Calling a man "N_ Jim", even with his permission, is racist.

As for Ms. Deen, when asked if she used the N-word, she replied "of course".

And by today's standards, in Enid, Oklahoma, everyone was racist. That was the culture. And if you're not from here, maybe you wouldn't understand, but "of course" is the only truthful answer anyone who grew up in the South in that era or even South-adjacent would say. It was very much like the movie, The Help My father, for a lot of his childhood, grew up in a similarly ostracized manner. His mother was courageous enough to get a divorce from his alcoholic, physically abusive father, and she was not accepted in polite society until she remarried (and she did pretty well in that department).

My father's step father was from Alabama, and was directly related to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston of the Confederate Army. They went on a tour of the Deep South during the 1960s, which included a trip to the old Plantation. At that time, the Plantation was up and running, they had black employees who resided in the former slave barracks who were compensated with company scrip, only redeemable at the company store, and for all intents and purposes, they remained slaves. The owner of this Plantation was the grandson of the General. He was an elderly man in a wheelchair who had a confederate flag blanket in his lap. He lectured them about the wrongs of the Civil Rights movement and whatever else you might imagine would be perfectly horrible to say.

People are a product of their times and cultures. Was it wrong by today's standards? No question. Are folks who are a product of their time and culture redeemable? Why not?

So if you were to produce an antebellum movie, would you include white and asian slaves?

Well, now you're claiming to know her motivation there. It could have been just for historical accuracy. It's also important enough to know she had the good sense not to go through with it. None of the articles really goes much into the context of the discussion or how far the idea got.

It is. And folks who were raised up by dudes like that hold the same or similar attitude. Dude probably laughed like it was a joke when his dad told him that.

Thank you.

Laughed? No... More like disbelief at how much we've changed in so short a time. This was only 50-60 years ago. The folks who used to be comfortable addressing someone as "N_ Jim" wouldn't dream of it today and only tell those stories to illustrate how we were, not how we are.

That's how when I hear about Deen saying she had certainly used that word, I'm not reading into it as much as others here. It's how things used to be.

I used to be good (online) friends with GreekChatter. We chatted on AIM or gchat or whatever the thing was at the time.

Once, he sent me the following message:

"Big nig"

Our friendship was over that instant.

He tried to apologize, said he meant to send it to someone else, etc etc, blah blah blah.

There is no excuse for some things. I don't care that he wasn't calling ME "nig" - he was a person in power who used the word.

I don't care one way or the other about Paula Deen. The fact that she acts so unaware and unapologetically suggests that yes, she deserves everything coming to her.

Notification from my CNN app: "The Food Network says it "will not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month."

What's that noise? Is it the sound of an empire beginning to fall?

Oh, Paula.

Talking Points Memo hit the nail on the head in describing her as "a racial Mr. Magoo."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archive...l_mr_magoo.php

To quote one of the collegians I met last weekend, "She's the conductor of the Hot Mess Express."

I'm stealing that. :D

You can thank one of our sisters for that one! I almost spit my dinner across the table.

I'm sort of in awe of the Paula Deen witch hunt going on... Seriously..because Paula Deen is the only public figure to have ever said that word..like ever. At least she has tje balls to admit saying it and the error of it.

I'm sure the people throwing the stones have never uttered that word either.

For clarifications sake I'm not saying what she said 30 years ago was ok or should be glossed over but this public crucifiction is a little ridic.

My opinion, which is probably an unpopular one: Past doesn't equal present. She admitted her mistake and apologized for it. I really don't see any issue anymore.. Honestly, at the time she used the word, she probably didn't know any better. She was born during a different time period.. That's how people spoke back then, as bad as that is. If she said it thirty years ago and hasn't said it since (which is what I've gathered, someone can tell me if I'm wrong), then props to her for apologizing. Unfortunately for her, she would have been better off never admitting it. If she's still saying it today.. well, that's a different issue.

From what I've gathered, though, she said it a longgg time ago. Not in 2013.

This whole thing was brought to light for a deposition where the plaintiff (who is a former employee) alleges that this was ongoing.

http://gawker.com/5890872/lawsuit-cl...ey-temple-days
See also:
http://gawker.com/paula-deen-says-of...word-514272160

Bubba got married in 2007.

For me, it's about much more than the use of the word. She's either racist or stupid. Or both.

I agree and I think a lesser person (especially one in the public view) probably would have denied using that word even in a court disposition.

Wow if true but that is the first I've heard of that incident. What the initial major uproar seems to be about her admission and subsequent apology of using the racial slur 30 years ago. That's what I responded to in my post.

The lawsuit is what led to the deposition which is what led to the news coverage. She's trying to play it off like it was oh so long ago, and oh man, she's just a product of her times. I'm not buying it for one second.

You can't admit in a deposition that yes, the conversation in which she wanted to have little black tapdancing boys (just like Shirley Temple!) in her brother's plantation wedding, and servers made to represent SLAVES sure did happen, and then say "Oh no, it was so long ago that I used that word. I didn't use that word in that conversation that pretty much proves that I'm a horrible racist."

I've never gotten a good vibe from this woman, and I think the racism is just the tip of the iceberg. In other words, I have the feeling she's equally awful to all people...if that makes the situation better or worse, who knows.

She's only kind to butter and ham.

A woman who has made her living on old-style Southern culture dropped the N-bomb?

Shut the front door.

Seconded! "Conductor of the Hot Mess Express" = AWESOMESAUCE

When that "of course" is read in context in the deposition, I don't really see impunity. I do see either an amazing naïveté or willful ignorance.

That bubble would be called Savannah. There's an odd kind of time warp going on there.

And to be clear, I'm not suggesting that every white person in Savannah is racist by any means. But it does seem to be one of those pockets of the South where there are more pronounced and odd mixes of old and new attitudes.

And while I can agree to a point about people being products of earlier times, I feel the need to make it clear for the record that some of us were reared in the South in the 1960s by depression- and WWII-era parents who made it very clear that use of the N-word (or, for that matter, "colored") was not acceptable under any circumstances and would not be tolerated. At all.

Yet people think that it is okay to ridicule her way of talking and it's not racist?

Those that didn't like Paula before feel that they are justified (whether true or not) and those that supported her in the past will continue to do so.

Either way, tomorrow is another day.

How is ridiculing her speech racism?