Oprah on Paula Deen: ‘Millions of people’ have used that word

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Oprah Winfrey is opening up about the Paula Deen N-word controversy.

Following the embattled Southern chef’s public fall from grace, the media mogul sat down with E! News Monday at the NYC junket for Lee Daniel’s The Butler and shared her thoughts on the criticism the former Food Network star received after admitting to past use of the racial slur.

“I think that Paula Deen represented, you know, millions of people who have used the word,” the media mogul exclusively told E! News when asked if she believed the backlash was fair.

May, the celebrity chef’s reputation was irreparably damaged after she admitted in a video deposition to using the N-word as part of a $1.2 million lawsuit filed against her by a former employee.

The controversial confession caused a number of sponsors—including the Food Network, Smithfield Foods, Sears, Caesars Entertainment Corporation and JCPenney, to name a few—to sever their ties with the 66-year-old chef.

“Unfortunately, she is a public figure,” Winfrey continued. “And whatever the situation was with the hearing that she had, or had said it and then went on TV and said she had only said it one time, but Paula Deen, I thought, represented a whole lot of people. And I think for the big issue to be made about Paula Deen was what the media does.”

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