Is Paula Deen getting what she deserves?

[kenny]

The latest: http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/27/news/companies/paula-deen-home-depot-target-diabetes/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

What do you think?

 

[mrs jam]

She should be doused in lemon butter and spanked with a cheese log.

 

[zoebartlett]

I watched her interview on the Today show and she really bugged me. She seemed very whiny and I found it hard to have sympathy for her.

 

[tammy77]

Guilt by association is a very real thing. I certainly don't blame the companies for distancing themselves from her.

 

[amc80]

It's overkill. It makes me not want to watch the Food Network.

 

[Circe]

I think social ostracism is the natural outcome of voicing socially unacceptable views. It's ... for lack of a better word ... gross to want people of color to role-play previous oppression. (And that's not even getting into the weighted racial epithets.) People aren't stage dressing. I can't really see wanting to buy anything associated with that concept, or by extension, her ....

 

[kenny]

I think she is being punished too harshly.
But that's how it is when companies smell a possible drop in sales, they bolt like night-time cockroaches when the light is turned on.

Not fair, but companies are all about money, not benevolence.


BTW, Deen has made a zillion bucks from the same system, so my heart breaks that she's worth only 1,987,425,541 zillion bucks and will never be worth 66,834,468,146,648,648,648 zillion bucks.
She's just now experiencing the other side of the same absurd coin.

She'll never be hungry.

 

[monarch64]

Has anyone read the formal complaint? Because here it is:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/148781831/Jackson-v-Deen-Et-Al-Complaint

 

[SB621]

For me the punishment fits the crime. I don't think she is being judged to harshly. When you are a "celebrity" or a person in a position of power then you should realize that almost everything you say, do and wear will be public. It literally sickens me that she thought that was ok and wouldn't have any repercussions against her.

 

[tyty333]

She should be doused in lemon butter and spanked with a cheese log.

She would like that too much!

 

[amc80]

Has anyone read the formal complaint? Because here it is:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/148781831/Jackson-v-Deen-Et-Al-Complaint

Most of it.

Why did she stick around for so long? If I was being harassed or had a racist/offensive boss, I'd quit. I wouldn't sue everyone.

 

[Aoife]

I read a good part of the deposition, as well as quite a few choice excepts from her autobiography.

I'm not a Paula Deen fan, and never have been, but I feel a little sorry for her because her level of cluelessness is truly mind-boggling. I think she believes with all her heart that she is not a racist, and doesn't understand that the things she has said and done are deeply offensive. I don't think that excuses her, and I personally believe the loss of the Food Network platform, and the numerous endorsements is deserved. On the other hand, if at some point the penny drops and she figures out exactly why those things she said are so wrong on every level, and the Food Network decides to rehire her, fine.

 

[momhappy]

I don't even like Paula Deen and I don't think she's getting what she deserves. She's being targeted and treated too harshly in my opinion.

 

[KaeKae]

I don't think it's too harsh. The only way to stop this kind of behavior is to address it head on. Paula is humiliated and has lost her sources of income, but unless she's been spending her money as fast as she makes it, she's not going to be out on the street. With the right PR people, she can probably make some kind of comeback in a couple years, if she's up to that. She's in her sixties, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that she found a way to work behind the scenes for some other people. She'll write a book about her recovery from it all, or whatever. Despite the enemies she's now making, I'm sure there are some people that will eventually be willing to work with her again.

 

[Indylady]

Has anyone read the formal complaint? Because here it is:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/148781831/Jackson-v-Deen-Et-Al-Complaint

Most of it.

Why did she stick around for so long? If I was being harassed or had a racist/offensive boss, I'd quit. I wouldn't sue everyone.

That's easy to say, but harder to do in reality--there are a lot of reasons, like having immediate financial responsibilities, that would keep someone from quitting their job even in the face of harassment.

I think she's getting what she deserves. It makes sense that other businesses would pull their endorsement of her after hearing about racial discrimination, her use of racial epithets, and her idea to hold a traditional "plantation style" wedding with black waitstaff. I imagine she thought it was a cute idea.

 

[momhappy]

Has anyone read the formal complaint? Because here it is:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/148781831/Jackson-v-Deen-Et-Al-Complaint

Most of it.

Why did she stick around for so long? If I was being harassed or had a racist/offensive boss, I'd quit. I wouldn't sue everyone.

I agree. If your working conditions were that bad, you'd think that you could go work in a restaurant elsewhere.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Weren't the comments she made 30 years ago? If she made those comments last week, that would be one thing, but to punish her now for saying something stupid that long ago is ridiculous.

 

[babs23r]

The problem with Paula Deen is that she doesn't see herself as a racist. She obviously doesn't think she did anything wrong. She was born and raised in the south in the 50's and her great grandfather was a slave owner. What do you expect her to be like? If you read the deposition , she clearly admits to her husband making racist jokes, and doesn't understand what would offend other people. She admitted to saying the "n" word more than once in her deposition, but then changed her answer to only once on the today show.
We have come a long way in this nations civil rights movement, but we are not all there yet.
I wouldn't want to be a black youth walking alone in some small southern town today.
Paula Deen shouldn't be allowed back on the food network until she understands that what she said was very wrong and why. This is the 21st century, not the 19th century. Wake up Paula and smell the lard.

 

[monarch64]

Has anyone read the formal complaint? Because here it is:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/148781831/Jackson-v-Deen-Et-Al-Complaint

Most of it.

Why did she stick around for so long? If I was being harassed or had a racist/offensive boss, I'd quit. I wouldn't sue everyone.

I agree. If your working conditions were that bad, you'd think that you could go work in a restaurant elsewhere.

My personal opinion is that she had a time investment with the organization already, she may have been treated well in other ways or actually enjoyed her work, etc. Perhaps you might compare this to what people say about women or men who stay with abusive partners--if it's that bad, why didn't they just leave? I don't think it's always that simple. I think maybe this woman also felt a personal responsibility to speak out/sue for the sake of other workers. Maybe she wanted to see an end to the way this family treated people who worked for them? Just speculating.

 

[missy]

The problem with Paula Deen is that she doesn't see herself as a racist. She obviously doesn't think she did anything wrong. She was born and raised in the south in the 50's and her great grandfather was a slave owner. What do you expect her to be like? If you read the deposition , she clearly admits to her husband making racist jokes, and doesn't understand what would offend other people. She admitted to saying the "n" word more than once in her deposition, but then changed her answer to only once on the today show.
We have come a long way in this nations civil rights movement, but we are not all there yet.
I wouldn't want to be a black youth walking alone in some small southern town today.
Paula Deen shouldn't be allowed back on the food network until she understands that what she said was very wrong and why. This is the 21st century, not the 19th century. Wake up Paula and smell the lard.

The problem is that it can be insidious and pervasive and what's dangerous is not even recognizing it. I mean, when you are part of the maligned group you certainly do but when you are not and you just don't see what is happening right before your eyes? That is what is dangerous IMO.

I am not commenting on the Paula Deen incident or voting in the poll because I didn't read the deposition and only know what I heard on the news. But, if she thinks her husband's jokes are OK and if she thinks ever calling someone the n word is OK and if she just doesn't "get" it, well, I don't feel sorry for her at all no matter when she said what she did.

I see racism all around in varying forms and most of it is so under the radar lots of people wouldn't even recognize it. It is upsetting on many levels. Yes, we have come a long way but I agree with you in that we still have a long way to go. And that includes any type of prejudice that has to do with race/religion/sexual orientation/socioeconomic status/nationality and any I have left out.

ETA: I'd like to add a big YAY!!!! to the supreme court striking down
part of the Defense of Marriage Act.
(The rulings however do not impact gay marriage rights in the 38 states where it is currently not legal on the books so it's a good start but there's a lot of work left).

 

[packrat]

My own personal thoughts are, we are too scream-y as a whole. It reminds me of South Park and the "rabble rabble rabble" people in the background. We are to the point where we need to make a flow chart on what words we can say, when we can say them, who is allowed to say them, in what context, around what people, depending on how much humidity is in the air, the position of the stars, our geographical location and our proximity to Venus.

If it's not ok, it's NOT **edited by moderator. please use family friendly language** OK. That doesn't mean it's ok for some, but not for others. It's ok for black people to say, is that what the whole point is? Um, no. So, it's ok for me to call someone a bitch, b/c I'm a female? Or, b/c I *AM* a bitch? Or, the *C* word, b/c if you want to get technical, I HAVE ONE. GAWD. It's ok for Kenny (sorry Kenny) to call someone a fag but a straight person can't? Is it right that she said it? No. Of course not. Is it on the same level as if she were a known child trafficker, selling small children into the sex trade? Is there a graveyard of boys under her porch and she regularly dresses as a clown? No. Let's not put it in the same category, please.

My brother brought a girl to meet my grandparents. At the end of the visit, my gramma told him "Well, at least she's not a black". Does that make my gramma on the same wavelength of those in white sheets?

I tried to look thru that complaint but holy cow, this was that and then that happened and while that was going on this did but then this other thing was w/this other company but then later at this company. So I still don't know everything that happened. All's I know is she said the N word and apparently some guy that worked for her was a chauvinist prig?

Words hurt. I *get* that. But we keep harping and harping and harping and digging and pointing fingers and rehashing. How are we going to move FORWARD and RISE ABOVE? Never, b/c our country as a whole, enjoys shit like this. We do. We LIKE to sit around and wring our hands and gnash our teeth about every single thing that offends us or that we think should offend us or might start offending us or maybe used to offend us and we like to make a big deal about everything, and while we're doing that we fail to remember that we're all HUMAN we all make MISTAKES and there isn't a one of us on the face of the planet who can throw stones or claim to be the embodiment of all that is good and wonderful and glittery and rainbow in the world.

 

[ame]

I think it's weird that it's all coming out and happening now, especially if this instance it was related to happened several years ago, but I do think that it's something that deserves a serious punishment, when someone uses such a slur. I don't care, nor does it excuse it, that she's from a different era, where she was raised or "who she is," because "who she is" is a racist who doesn't see herself as one, just like I am afraid a lot of people are. But it just sounds to me like it was bound to happen eventually, and with all that is going on right now in this country, she's going to be the poster child for this type of speech and I hope like hell it makes the conversation happen about it, because I feel like on that especially we are going way backwards...I am so sick of the racial divide.

And her PR team hung her, maybe that was on purpose. I don't care what becomes of her "empire" or of her personally, but if she personally wants to salvage anything, she needs to just shut the F up and go be with her family in private for a while. Stop being on tv, stop giving statements. Just shut your piehole.

And the divisiveness of this issue in this country on how people are having such a cow about her sponsors dropping her...it just proves that she's the poster child for how racist we really are in this country despite not wanting to be and how out of the way people will go to try to prove we really aren't and we end up calling attention to just how bad we really are about it. As right wing as I think walmart is, they're trying to hide that or shed that moniker, and they like the others are wanting to appeal to everyone, so they don't want to be the one attached to someone, "forgiving her mistakes" or not, that used this term, whatever the excuse is.

If anyone saw the recent Dave Foley "standup" thing on I think Showtime...it wasn't as funny but it was SUPER topical and amazing. And touches on this, though not actually mentioning Paula Deen, but racism, and equal rights before that.

 

[LibbyLA]

I wouldn't want to be a black youth walking alone in some small southern town today.

Just how many small southern towns have you visited lately? Where I live, the two largest cities are predominantly black and many of the small towns are, as well. My city has a high murder rate, but it's not whites killing blacks. Most of the violent crime is black on black. In a lot of southern towns and cities, the danger to black youths is other black youths, not white people.

I don't get how it's cool for black rappers to use the N word but it's almost a crime for a white person to say it. I don't like the word, have never used it but I don't like the double standard.

liz

 

[bright ice]

I wouldn't want to be a black youth walking alone in some small southern town today.

Just how many small southern towns have you visited lately? Where I live, the two largest cities are predominantly black and many of the small towns are, as well. My city has a high murder rate, but it's not whites killing blacks. Most of the violent crime is black on black. In a lot of southern towns and cities, the danger to black youths is other black youths, not white people.

I don't get how it's cool for black rappers to use the N word but it's almost a crime for a white person to say it. I don't like the word, have never used it but I don't like the double standard.

liz

Amen!

 

[kenny]

Um, no. So, it's ok for me to call someone a bitch, b/c I'm a female? Or, b/c I *AM* a bitch? Or, the *C* word, b/c if you want to get technical, I HAVE ONE. GAWD. It's ok for Kenny (sorry Kenny) to call someone a fag but a straight person can't?

No problem; no offense taken.

I have mixed feelings about a group-member using a term that's known as a derogatory term for that group.
On one hand group-members do it to take the word's power away.
It can actually become almost a term of endearment reinforcing solidarity.

There is a huge support among some gays to use and even embrace the term, "queer".
I understand the political and PC reasons for this, but don't really do it.
I'm not a very good group member yelling, "Rah Rah Rah for my tribe!"
I don't even go to gay pride festivals. Ho Hum!
I say, abolish tribes and just think of all people as one tribe.

But it is a double standard (and just confusing) to expect people outside the group to never dare use such terms.

Clearly what matters is what's in your heart, not on your lips.
IMO what's in your heart comes across just fine when friends are together in person.

But when someone is quoted, especially in a legal deposition, all bets are off when it comes to judging what their use of such a term means.
Throw in companies protecting their profits in this hyper-PC culture and you got one big mess that can get blown out of proportion.

 

[Niel]

The idea that she used it once during a robbery isn't the thing that bothers me. (I do t like it but still)

What brothers me is her general racial undertones. Like this

Lawyer: Is there any possibility, in your mind, that you slipped and used the word “n----r”?

Deen: No, because that’s not what these men were. They were professional black men doing a fabulous job.

Now to me that reads like she had a definition in her mind of the kind of person can be called "the n word," but these particular African Americans didn't fit it...

 

[Niel]

Also I don't really have a problem with how she is being treated. If you want to make your living off of your personality, you shouldn't be surprised if your ugly personality traits hurt business.


But on a different note, my SO said today something I found funny, she was until today a spokeswoman for a diabetes drug. Isn't that quite the conflict of interest?

 

[kenny]

Ashe was until today a spokeswoman for a diabetes drug. Isn't that quite the conflict of interest?

Perhaps the pharmaceutical company feels that many customers for their diabetes drug relate to her.

 

[Niel]

Ashe was until today a spokeswoman for a diabetes drug. Isn't that quite the conflict of interest?

Perhaps the pharmaceutical company feels that many customers for their diabetes drug relate to her.

Oh no doubt that's why they chose her, but if people actually eat the way she cooks, she's essentially profiting off the food that leads to diabetes and then the treatment of it.

 

[AprilBaby]

The problem with Paula Deen is that she doesn't see herself as a racist. She obviously doesn't think she did anything wrong. She was born and raised in the south in the 50's and her great grandfather was a slave owner. What do you expect her to be like? If you read the deposition , she clearly admits to her husband making racist jokes, and doesn't understand what would offend other people. She admitted to saying the "n" word more than once in her deposition, but then changed her answer to only once on the today show.
We have come a long way in this nations civil rights movement, but we are not all there yet.
I wouldn't want to be a black youth walking alone in some small southern town today.
Paula Deen shouldn't be allowed back on the food network until she understands that what she said was very wrong and why. This is the 21st century, not the 19th century. Wake up Paula and smell the lard.

Amen!