Paula Deen Innocent?

[MobBoss]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/12/showbiz/paula-deen-lawsuit/

So was this entire thing simply a disgruntled employee claim?

Should Deen get her Food Network job back?

Or is she still a bad person cause once upon a time she said that which must not be uttered?

Discuss.

 

[warpus]

I don't know much about her, but I do remember watching a clip of her talking about a party she threw where she hired a bunch of black dudes to be the "slaves" or something similar. She's either senile and unaware that she's racist or just plain racist, but that's just my take on it.

 

[kramerfan86]

She hasnt gotten off for being a jerk yet though, a lot of other aspects of the case are being allowed to continue. My big question is did she actually want to have a plantation themed party where the blacks were all dressed up as the house servants? If so that shows there is at least a degree of backwards racism in her, even if its not the vindictive hateful version of it.

 

[MobBoss]

Mel Brooks hired a bunch of black dudes to portray slaves in Blazing Saddles. Was he a racist as well? Or is that different, and if so, why exactly is it all that different?

 

[downtown]

That entire movie was to make fun of racism!

 

[kramerfan86]

For me there is just a little bit of difference between hiring people to act and hiring people to actually do slave duties (minus beatings and murder).

 

[Formaldehyde]

I don't know much about her, but I do remember watching a clip of her talking about a party she threw where she hired a bunch of black dudes to be the "slaves" or something similar. She's either senile and unaware that she's racist or just plain racist, but that's just my take on it.

She hasnt gotten off for being a jerk yet though, a lot of other aspects of the case are being allowed to continue. My big question is did she actually want to have a plantation themed party where the blacks were all dressed up as the house servants? If so that shows there is at least a degree of backwards racism in her, even if its not the vindictive hateful version of it.

Paula Deen certainly apologized for something. But it doesn't seem to be over the matter of her "true plantation-style wedding":

Paula Deen's (Super) Awkward Apology Videos Weren't Enough to Save Her Job

I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I have done. I want to learn and grow from this. Inappropriate and 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.

John Oliver probes whether Paula Deen’s plantation-themed wedding a sign of adult onset racism

“Let’s accept a civil war plantation wedding does sound very romantic,” Oliver joked. “Everyone dressed in crisp white linen, and instead of rings the bride and groom exchange slaves, and after the reception the Union army comes through and burns everything to the ground. A day that no one would soon forget.”

Oliver turned to Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams to learn more about whether Deen’s racism was inherited or developed. Williams noted that Deen recently appeared on a genealogy show, where she learned her ancestors owned 35 slaves. It was also possible, however, that Deen developed “adult onset racism” from an overexposure to Dixie nostalgia.

Oliver was surprised to see Williams handle Deen’s hurtful words in such a dispassionate manner.

“Oh please, Paula Deen’s words aren’t hurting black people anywhere near as much as her recipes are,” Williams remarked.

 

[BvBPL]

This has gone on way too long and it is high time to put it aside.

 

[Kyriakos]

I don't know anything about that chef (she is a chef i suspect, given the image with the cooking book) but she looks rather too old-styled to do this job since afaik these sorts of programs mostly make it (here anyway) with younger people doing the cooking.

Doesn't make much sense that a tv-chef would actually mean to say a racist comment.

SouthPark, on the other hand

 

[bhsup]

I guess Greece never heard of Julia Child.

Anyway, my concern with the judge throwing out the racism charge is that, to my knowledge, they had not proven that Paula Deen is not a self-hating white that is perfectly capable of being racist against other white employees.

EDIT: Well, that's embarrassing. It's "Child" sans the s.

 

[Kyriakos]

^The only celebrity-chefs i know (apart from a couple local ones who are crap anyway) is that english person (Oliver i mean, not the deranged other one :/ ) and one in Sweden (iirc) that a poster once presented a pic of.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

That entire movie was to make fun of racism!

It really bothers me when people who say that the movie is racist miss this bloody obvious point. Shall we call The Great Dictator an ode to totalitarianism as well?

 

[Antilogic]

It really bothers me when people who say that the movie is racist miss this bloody obvious point. Shall we call The Great Dictator an ode to totalitarianism as well?

Satire doesn't always fly.

 

[bhsup]

Okay, but how do you guys know this party she apparently threw wasn't meant in the same vein as Blazing Saddles?

(I doubt it was, mind you, but should we automatically assume the worst and not allow for other possible explanations?)

 

[Antilogic]

Okay, but how do you guys know this party she apparently threw wasn't meant in the same vein as Blazing Saddles?

(I doubt it was, mind you, but should we automatically assume the worst and not allow for other possible explanations?)

I think it's a public thing by a known satirist v. private thing done by not-satirist difference.

 

[Formaldehyde]

This has gone on way too long and it is high time to put it aside.

I hope you don't mind too much if the lawsuit is actually resolved first. After all, the only ruling the judge has made so far is that her claims of racial discrimination 'did not meet the standard for protection under federal law and said she was no more than “an accidental victim of the alleged racial discrimination.”'

Okay, but how do you guys know this party she apparently threw wasn't meant in the same vein as Blazing Saddles?

(I doubt it was, mind you, but should we automatically assume the worst and not allow for other possible explanations?)

She isn't being sued for being callous and having incredibly poor taste. Those are just additional facts which tend to support that Paula Deen did indeed have much reason to apologize.

 

[Machinegunkenny]

The attention that this has drawn is insane. If Paula was black and made a racist comment she would not be going through this...PERIOD.

We have a MAJOR problem with double standards regarding racism in this country. Many ethnic comedians get away with mocking white people and constantly pointing out cultural differences, yet NOTHING is ever said about it.

Fifty Cent did the SKS energy commercial that ran on radio stations for what seemed like forever and suffered no backlash. In the commercial he starts off by sounding "white" and then drinks the SKS to sound like himself. It is demeaning to say the least and would NEVER be acceptable if it were the other way around. What if it was a special ginko drink or any other supposed mental stimulant type drink and a white guy started off sounding "black" and after drinking it sounded like himself again?! He and the company that payed for the ad would be ripped to shreds by every major media outlet in the nation and abroad.

Even the term "reverse racism" is ridiculous. The very term would suggest only white are racist and that when other ethnic groups are racist it is out of the ordinary!?

I am glad that things have changed in this country. Racism is ugly whatever form it takes, but for us to now go BEYOND equality and tolerate it from one side and not the other is unacceptable.

People have waaaaaaay over reacted to Paula Dean. Where is the zeal when it is the other way around?

 

[Formaldehyde]

How many blacks feel superior to whites? How many of them discriminate against white employees? How many blacks racially profile white teens who walk or drive through their neighborhoods on the basis that they are likely criminals? How many of them dream of having weddings where they are served by whites like they were back in the days when they owned them?

 

[Antilogic]

...yeah, I'm not touching this one.

 

[Machinegunkenny]

How many blacks feel superior to whites? How many of them discriminate against white employees?

Who knows? Who knows about the opposite of your question? You certainly can't let your perception be skewed by the media! As I stated, you don't hear the other side of the coin.

I suffered alot of racism when I lived in Riverside California. I remember being chased to the bus stop in Kindergarten by 8+ older black kids because I was white. You won't hear that on the news and I don't dislike blacks because of it. Ignorance is everywhere and is not more predominant in one race...we are the subject of our environment and how we are raised is everything.

I think white America needs to get over this self-loathing and stop with the double standards and things like Affirmative Action. America cannot make up for the deeds of the past, BUT it can learn from them and treat everyone equally.