Paula Deen Apologizes for Racial Slur — and Loses Food Network
Chef Paula Deen has spent her career building a warm Southern-food empire. This week she was in unfamiliar territory: apologizing for using a racial slur, skipping a live interview, and watching her television career collapse within 48 hours.
What did Paula Deen admit?
In a deposition for a discrimination lawsuit, the 66-year-old chef admitted she had used the N-word. The suit was filed by Lisa Jackson, a former manager at Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House, the Savannah restaurant co-owned by Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers.
Deen had also drawn outrage for an earlier account of visiting a restaurant in the South where the waiters were all middle-aged Black men dressed in white jackets and bow ties. She said she had wanted a restaurant with wait staff like that because it represented "a certain era in America" — a remark critics called a fantasy of plantation-era service.
How did the apology go?
On Friday, Deen posted an apology video to YouTube asking for forgiveness. It was pulled within hours and replaced with a longer version — an early sign of how badly the crisis was being managed.
She also failed to show up for a scheduled live interview on NBC's Today show that morning. Host Matt Lauer announced live on air that Deen had called him the day before to promise a candid interview — and then simply did not appear.
Why did Food Network drop her?
By Friday afternoon, the Food Network announced it would not renew Deen's contract when it expired at the end of the month. The network that had made her a star cut her loose, ending a partnership that defined her career.
What did other chefs say?
The reaction from the culinary world was pained. Joe Randall, the well-known Black Southern chef who runs the Savannah Cooking School where Deen once studied, told TMZ: "I can say that her admitting to using derogatory language and the n-word is very hurtful." He added that she would still be welcome in his establishment as any client would be — even as he said he did not respect her words.
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