Paula Deen must have a horrible public relations team. Her multi-million dollar brand has fallen on its knees in a matter of days and it’s all been documented online.
The alleged racial slurs used by Paula and her brother “Bubba,” and his alleged sexual harassment, were encapsulated in a damning deposition she gave recently for a lawsuit brought by a former manager at a restaurant Deen and her brother own in Savannah, Georgia.
Deen’s fall was swift and brutal and she had a hand in her own career’s demise. When radio personality Don Imus called the Rutgers women basketball team a bunch of “nappy headed hos” back in 2007, he initially brushed off the criticism of his comments, but he made an apology shortly after that, CBS suspended then fired him and Imus did a round of apologies in the media, even going on Rev. Al Sharpton’s show.
Imus was back on the air eight months later, but Deen might not be so lucky thanks to social media, her self-sabotaging apologies and her past comments.
The power of Black Twitter
You’ve read all the juicy bits by now. Her “Yes, of course” response to the question of whether or not she’s used the n-word and her odd fascination with having slave-era-looking black servers at a wedding.
All of that was the perfect fodder for “Black Twitter” (that very real and very active corner of social media) and the #PaulasBestDishes hashtag was born.
Mainstream media even picked up on the hashtag, which incorporated the names of classic southern dishes with a dash of classic southern racism.
“Separate But Equal Light and Dark Meat” and “White (Only) Rice” are just a couple of the recipes dreamed up by Twitter users.
The ill-fated apologies
After pulling a last minute no-show with Matt Lauer on the Today Show, Deen released a short but heavily edited “apology” video that was put on YouTube, pulled, put back up and pulled again. Her caked-on makeup seemed to be the star of that video.
Later in the day, Deen released a longer one-take video that in essence said, “Please forgive me. I am really stressed due to your reaction to the stupid stuff I said and I feel bad ya’ll.”
Both videos were full of woe-is-me ramblings and neither suggested any type of enlightenment or understanding on the subject of racism. Shortly after Deen’s PR team botched her apologies, the Food Network announced that Deen’s contract would expire at the end of June and not be renewed.
That means she’s fired. QVC, the home shopping network that carries a line of Deen’s cookware and Random House, the publisher behind her upcoming book have both said they are monitoring the situation.
Deen’s black black friend
When a famous person so thoroughly puts her foot in her mouth, the media immediately begins to dig into the past to see what other foolish things the celebrity might have said, and this is bad news for Deen.
In October of 2012, Deen did a on-camera interview at the New York Times building in front of a live audience. In addition to saying all types of ridiculous things like calling her great-grandfather’s slaves “workers” and sharing her sadness that he didn’t have any “workers” to run his plantation after the Civil War, Deen trotted out her black friend. She informed the interviewer that her black friend’s name is Hollis Johnson and he is “black as that board.” Deen was sitting in front of a midnight black backdrop. She then encouraged Johnson to stand up and tells him “Come here, Hollis. We can’t see you standing against that dark board.” This drew laughter from the audience and visible discomfort by the interviewer.
Deen has a big problem right now as far as her national reputation and brand, but she will survive and flourish in her beloved South even with new allegations (which have not been substantiated) of her brother repeatedly calling a black cook a little monkey.
Her fans have come to her defense on the Food Network’s Facebook page and they have been lining up at her restaurant. Will she have a television show on a national network again? It’s possible, but not likely to happen anytime in the near future unless her PR team includes someone with Olivia Pope-esque skills.
Is it possible to atone for racist thoughts and actions? Is an apology enough?
Follow Demetria Irwin on Twitter at @Love_Is_Dope and connect with her on Facebook.