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  1. #1
    High Overlord Ult92's Avatar
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    Paula Deen fired from Food Network after racial epithet

    What do you guys think about it? It appears she admitted making the comments in a taped deposition.

    Lawyer: What about jokes, if somebody is telling a joke that's got --
    Deen: It's just what they are, they're jokes.
    Lawyer: Okay. Would you consider those to be using the N word in a mean way?



    Deen: That's -- that's kind of hard. Most -- most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, black folks. Most jokes target -- I don't know. I didn't make up the jokes, I don't know. I can't -- I don't know.

    Lawyer: Okay.
    Deen: They usually target, though a group. Gays or straights, black, redneck, you know, I just don't know. I can't, myself, determine what offends another person.
    See more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3467287.html

    Edit*: I should clarify - Food Network has chosen to not renew her contract - so it was not an immediate termination.

    A network spokeswoman said it would not renew Ms. Deen’s contract when it expired at the end of June. Ms. Deen has faced a volley of criticism this week over her remarks in a deposition for a discrimination lawsuit by a former employee. In the document, she admitted she had used racial epithets, tolerated racist jokes and condoned pornography in the workplace.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/22/di...y.html?hp&_r=0

    Edit*2

    It appears one of her major sponsors, Smithfield Foods, has now dropped her.
    "Smithfield condemns the use of offensive and discriminatory language and behavior of any kind. Therefore, we are terminating our partnership with Paula Deen. Smithfield is determined to be an ethical food industry leader and it is important that our values and those of our spokespeople are properly aligned."

    Deen became a spokesperson for Smithfield Foods, the country's largest producer of pork products, in 2006.
    http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/06/24/...een/?hpt=hp_t2
    Last edited by Ult92; 2013-06-24 at 07:24 PM.
    "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."
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  2. #2
    Don't care much, people who get offended by words are rather pathetic in my opinion. If words bother you that much perhaps you should try being amish so you can avoid them. As for her getting fired, doesn't matter, I didn't even know she was employed by them, thought she was a comedian.

  3. #3
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    foodchannel never heard of it so i dnt care much for the person who is racist and got fired

  4. #4
    High Overlord Ult92's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rucati View Post
    Don't care much, people who get offended by words are rather pathetic in my opinion. If words bother you that much perhaps you should try being amish so you can avoid them. As for her getting fired, doesn't matter, I didn't even know she was employed by them, thought she was a comedian.
    It's a lot different when the person is a public figure, though. Not that I'm justifying it in any case. Doesn't matter if anyone is offended or not, that wasn't the point. It's still wrong.
    Last edited by Ult92; 2013-06-21 at 09:53 PM.
    "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."
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  5. #5
    She was way past her prime anyway. Some of the new people on the Food Network are so much better.
    *edit*
    Although I don't really care either way if she stays or goes, I don't really think she should have been fired for something she said off the air and possibly many years in the past.
    Last edited by Bodaway; 2013-06-21 at 09:58 PM.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Ult92 View Post
    It's a lot different when the person is a public figure, though. Not that I'm justifying it in any case. Doesn't matter if anyone is offended or not, that wasn't the point. It's still wrong.
    Your post title says fired after racial epithet. I don't see from reading your link what exactly the epithet was, when it was used, and what context it was used in. Do you know the answers to those questions?

  7. #7
    High Overlord Ult92's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Merkava View Post
    Your post title says fired after racial epithet. I don't see from reading your link what exactly the epithet was, when it was used, and what context it was used in. Do you know the answers to those questions?


    Front page - but my OP had links to two different articles, one with a transcript of the court deposition.

    Also I will add, it was not that she was caught on tape in the context. It was a rather callous admission on her part that she had done it in the past, many times.
    Last edited by Ult92; 2013-06-21 at 10:06 PM.
    "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."
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  8. #8
    Herald of the Titans chrisberb's Avatar
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    On the Daily Show last night, they made a joke that "her saying the N word hasn't damaged the black community as much as her recipes have" lol, was funny

  9. #9
    Eh. Paula Deen really did come from a completely different culture, political correctness was nonexistent and racism was widespread and overt. I mean, she was born into an era of segregated bathrooms, schools, minorities sitting in the back of the bus, etc.

    The video is probably what did her in w/the Food Network, though (assuming it really does exist).

  10. #10
    She lived in the south in the 50's and 60's.
    This was common practice.
    How is this a surprise?
    Ever been to Mississippi?

  11. #11
    Mechagnome Lefeng's Avatar
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    Geez. First of all, you have to use the term "chef" very loosely when referring to Paula Deen. Second, she hasn't appeared on anything new on Food Network in a year or more, it seems to me. Third, I'm sure Food Network wanted to dump her anyway since she doesn't really fit into the "food competition" paradigm they have been following since their parent network debuted Cooking Channel.

    Finally, the news today was that a 60-something southern white American used a racial epithet? Have you even been to the south? As terrible as it is there are still large geographic pockets in the south where this a common, everyday occurrence.

  12. #12
    High Overlord Ult92's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lockedout View Post
    She lived in the south in the 50's and 60's.
    This was common practice.
    How is this a surprise?
    Ever been to Mississippi?
    Common place then, but not now, at least not for a public figure. The lawsuit was concerning the period from 2005-2010. That's not the 1950s South.
    "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead."
    -John Maynard Keynes-

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Ult92 View Post
    Too many people like the throw these words around as if they are nothing, and then later claim "it was just a joke"
    That's because they are nothing it's just a word and people that cry about it are just contributing to the pussification of America(or w/e country they are in).

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Ult92 View Post
    Common place then, but not now, at least not for a public figure. The lawsuit was concerning the period from 2005-2010. That's not the 1950s South.
    Mississipi is still a spectacularly racist place.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Ult92 View Post

    Front page - but my OP had links to two different articles, one with a transcript of the court deposition.
    Yea I saw that other link in your OP.

    So her contract wasn't renewed for admitting using racial slurs in the past. Not any specific instance, nor anything recently, nor anything caught on tape. Instead, she admits using a racial slur in a private conversation with her husband 25 years ago after a black man held a gun to her head during a robbery and when asked as part of a deposition if she used the word since then this was the exchange,
    Lawyer: Okay. Have you used it since then?
    Deen: I'm sure I have, but it's been a very long time.

    Lawyer: Can you remember the context in which you have used the N-word?
    Deen: No.

    Lawyer: Has it occurred with sufficient frequency that you cannot recall all of the various context in which you've used it?
    Deen: No, no.

    Lawyer: Well, then tell me the other context in which you've used the N-word?
    Deen: I don't know, maybe in repeating something that was said to me.

    Lawyer: Like a joke?
    Deen: No, probably a conversation between blacks. I don't -- I don't know. But that's just not a word that we use as time has gone on. Things have changed since the '60s in the south. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior. As well as I do.
    Can't say that it's a big deal, but would I fire her if I was a Food Network executive? Probably.
    Last edited by Merkava; 2013-06-21 at 11:22 PM.

  16. #16

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Ult92 View Post
    Common place then, but not now. The lawsuit was concerning the period from 2005-2010. That's not the 1950s South.
    Every once in awhile you still read an article about a segregated prom somewhere in the South, etc. Racism might not be overt, but it still exists (and not just in the South, either).

    Edit: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...ated-prom?lite

    School in Georgia just had their first integrated prom. THIS YEAR.

  18. #18
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Rucati View Post
    Don't care much, people who get offended by words are rather pathetic in my opinion. If words bother you that much perhaps you should try being amish so you can avoid them. As for her getting fired, doesn't matter, I didn't even know she was employed by them, thought she was a comedian.
    Words on their own are not offensive, it's the intent behind the use of the word that is.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Ult92 View Post
    Frankly, it's good to see the media networks acting quickly on this. Too many people like the throw these words around as if they are nothing, and then later claim "it was just a joke"

    Edit*: I should clarify - Food Network has chosen to not renew her contract - so it was not an immediate termination.

    See: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/21/showbi...html?hpt=hp_t1
    If it was said in front of employees, maybe told to employees I can mostly get behind it. If it was said in what could be considered a private conversation then It's none of our business.

    I still giggle that a white person uses the N word and it's outrageous and the same person who was offended may go turn on some little Wayne and sing along. I don't advocate it, but sometimes the doubel standards is midly annoying.

  20. #20
    She'll be OK. Food Network will offer her a few complimentary sticks of butter on the last day of her employment and she'll be content.

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