Southern Fried Kerfuffle

Found on Twitter:

Every time Paula Deen says something racist an angel gets diabetes

Every time she says something racist and denies she's a racist, Satan signals TOUCHDOWN!

I’d seen crap about this person in passing but, ya know, if you don’t watch TV or read People (generally) AND you’re a vegetarian with vegan leanings, odds are you’ll miss the hoopla and fuss over a Southern meat and dairy chef.

If I understand the stink correctly, she was in court because her brother and she had allowed their workplace to become, well, inhospitable unless you’re a white southern male.

From Howard Bragman‘s Linked in blog:

Last Wednesday the media released a transcript of a deposition by celebrity chef Paula Deen in which she acknowledged using the N-word, thinking about throwing a plantation-themed wedding and said she finds racist, anti-Semitic and jokes about other groups amusing. She went on to say: “I can’t, myself, determine what offends another person.”

Gee, no clue at all Paula? That's really desperately sad . The poor dear was born without a shred of empathy -- no ability to even vaguely imagine what it's like to walk in another person's, who's not part of the white monied set, loafers.

From the deposition:

Lawyer: Are you aware of Mr. Hiers (her brother) admitting that he engaged in racially and sexually inappropriate behavior in the workplace?
Deen: I guess
Lawyer: Okay. Well, have you done anything about what you heard him admit to doing?

Deen: My brother and I have had conversations. My brother is not a bad person. Do humans behave inappropriately? At times, yes. I don't know one person that has not. My brother is a good man. Have we told jokes? Have we said things that we should not have said, that -- yes, we all have. We all have done that, every one of us.

Right -- not a bad guy.

(USA Today) She said Hiers made racially insensitive remarks and that his restaurant required black staff members to use the back entrance and banned them from using a customer restroom that white staffers were allowed to use.

During one meeting in July 2010, she said Hiers violently shook a black male kitchen worker. Deen later decided to invite the man to her mansion to smooth things over rather than to address her brother's conduct, the lawsuit said. In another incident, Hiers challenged his staffers to a fight, she said.

On telling jokes that target African Americans, Jews, gays and other groups:

Lawyer: What about jokes, if somebody is telling a joke that's got --
Deen: It's just what they are, they're jokes.

The privileged, the bullies always hide behind the ‘it’s just a joke’ shield. They pretty much miss that their jokes, which mock and demean the folks to whom they feel superior, are only funny to THEM. To the rest of us they range from horribly insulting to intimidating to flat out freaky. Possibly, probably, they do know and that's part of what makes it so damned amusing to them.
…
On planning a Southern plantation-style wedding:

Lawyer: Do you recall using the words “really southern plantation wedding”?

(Ed. note: the waitstaff was to be of one skin color only. Hint: no whites, Indians or Chinese need apply)

Deen: Yes, I did say I would love for Bubba to experience a very southern style wedding, and we did that. We did that.
.......
Deen: Well, it was not only black men, it was black women.
Lawyer: Sure. And before the Civil War –- before the Civil War, those black men and women who were waiting on white people were slaves, right?

Deen: Yes, I would say that they were slaves.
Lawyer: Okay.

Deen: But I did not mean anything derogatory by saying that I loved their look and their professionalism.

So -- it was all about the staff's professionalism BUT they had to be Black. And, ya know, she didn't intend to be offensive and racist so that means she wasn't. Right?

Ahem...WRONG!

In a statement, Paula Deen Enterprises defends Deen:

"During a deposition where she swore to tell the truth, Ms. Deen recounted having used a racial epithet in the past, speaking largely about a time in American history which was quite different than today. She was born 60 years ago when America's South had schools that were segregated, different bathrooms, different restaurants and Americans rode in different parts of the bus. This is not today. To be clear Ms. Deen does not find acceptable the use of this term under any circumstance by anyone nor condone any form of racism or discrimination. "

Except she’s fine with it as long as it’s a 'joke' or when referring to someone who’s wronged her. She’s also fine with it if her brother is using the word, insulting her employees with other racial slurs or engaging in sexual harassment.

 AND she's excused because she's in her 60s? OH PLEAZE mon ami! The Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth lunch counter sit in happened on February 1, 1960, just 31 short days after we bid farewell to the '50s. She was 13 years old. The Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights was on March 7, 1965. She was 18. She was def old enough to be aware, old enough to understand.

The fight for civil rights was happening in her backyard. If anything she should have been more conscious, MORE aware -- this shit went down all around her. Hell and damnation, I was aware of what was happening as early as 1963 -- I was five that year and we lived in New Jersey. Not exactly the middle of all the action.

The dust up was NOT just about her using that word. I truly wish her fans and the media would stop acting like that's all this is about.

From Ask The White Guy:

Paula Deen destroyed her own career by dismissing the use of the N-word—which compounded all the other things she did, such as considering a plantation-themed party with all Black waiters or allowing a family member to repeatedly call a Black cook “my little monkey.” The apology she issued was exceptionally selfish and oblivious.
...
She was so cavalier about her behavior—so oblivious to the hurt she caused, the trust she violated—that she only expressed true remorse about the damage to her own career.

And to top it off she has now, still playing the victim, compared herself, her 'struggles' to Michael Sam.

[People] “I feel like ‘embattled’ or ‘disgraced’ will always follow my name. It’s like that black football player who recently came out,” Deen said, according to TheWrap.com. “He said, ‘I just want to be known as a football player. I don’t want to be known as a gay football player.’ I know exactly what he’s saying

Christ on buttered cornbread, she just does NOT get it. I can't put it better than Jake O'Donnell over at SportsGrid:

That’s right, a “black football player” shouldn’t be known as “a gay football player” because that puts him in a box, and people are individuals. A box, like, say, the “black football player” box. Unbelievable. 

Yup, truly un-fucking-believable.

Perhaps if she just shut the fuck up and focused on her diabetes creation, I mean cooking empire, she could find some peace.