The Food Network Queen and popular restaurant owner Paula Deen is involved in a harassment lawsuit filed last year by Lisa Jackson, a former manager of Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House in Savannah, GA. The restaurant is owned by Deen and her brother Bubba Hiers.
Jackson, who is white, was hired at the restaurant in February 2005 and within months was promoted to general manager. Jackson said in the lawsuit that she was sexually harassed and subjected to work in a hostile work environment. She also said in the lawsuit that Hiers routinely made inappropriate sexual and racial remarks and that she heard both Hiers and Deen use racial slurs. Jackson said her doctor encouraged her to quit her post at because she suffered from panic attacks and other stress.
Deen's lawyers issued the following statement:
"She (Lisa Jackson) has made baseless, inflammatory allegations, threatening to go to the press and ruin Paula Deen's reputation and the reputation of her businesses unless we paid her a large sum of money," the firm's statement said. "We refused to bow to that kind of pressure and refused to pay money to address false claims."
In Deen's court testimony, she admitted using the N-word. She subsequently released an apology saying:
“I wanna apologize to everybody, for the wrong that I’ve done,” it begins. “I want to learn and grow from this. Inappropriate hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. But I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners, I beg for your forgiveness. Please forgive me for the mistakes that I’ve made.Paula has been bombarded with blog posts, opinion columns, and negative tweets, including "Paula Deen's Apology Bingo" on Twitter, predicting what she would say to dig herself out of this hole. Finally, The Food Network Channel announced that they would not renew Paula's contract which expires at the end of the month.
The court will eventually issue it's verdict and negative public opinion probably will ebb. I doubt that Paula will head for the bread lines when all is said and done. The empire she has built, her status as a good will ambassador for Savannah, bolstering tourism through her Lady and Sons Restaurant, feeding 1800 people daily-all these things suggests that Paula will survive and probably thrive.
As I examine my feelings about Paula Deen's revelations that she "used the N-word" and dreamed about "a plantations style wedding" (for her brother Bubba), my thoughts are twofold: when you use hurtful language as a famous celebrity, you must pay the price of that indiscretion, whatever that price may be. Secondly, It's ridiculous to take a position that Blacks can use the N-word without penalty, but non-blacks can not. I feel that when African Americans stop using the N-word that we claim to find so offensive, others will stop using it.
I find it was much harder for me to forgive Paula for promoting unhealthy food, her delay in revealing her diabetes diagnosis (which she kept secret for years), and profiting from these things when she landed a $6 million endorsement deal with diabetes drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk. America barely blinked its eyes.
I've written several blog posts titled "Paula Deen and Me", most of them related to fighting obesity and controlling diabetes. I found myself resentful and less forgiving with each post. It was difficult to watch Paula's shows that still joked about using unhealthy foods and I found myself feeling quite distant from someone I had embraced and defended.
Discovering Paula's use of racial slurs was just the final blow in the demise of a friendship that seems to have gone terribly wrong. So sad to think that I hardly knew Paula Deen at all.
Related Articles:
Can Paula Deen Survive Without Foodnetwork? I Hope Not., Caleb Melby, Forbes
Paula Deen, Teflon Chef, Winston Ross, The Daily Beast
Living With Diabetes:Introduction: Paula Deen and Me, Silverlady, The Emerald Quill, 1/18/12
Paula Deen and Me: Obesity Causes Pain, Silverlady, The Emerald Quill, 4/28/12
Healthier Eating: Paula Deen and Me, Silverlady, The Emerald Quill, 6/17/12
1 comments:
Excellent article. I love how you were able to express how this matter personally effects you. I'm sorry that Paula Deen has lost her luster, because I know how much you once admired her.
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