The fall out from Paula Deen‘s unabashed racism still ain’t over! You might think since she lost her deal with Food Network (which has many a white folk up in arms) and has been publicly shamed despite her insistence that she’s just “from another time” when I guess referring to black people by racist terms was a-okay, she’d fade into the background. But oh no! She hasn’t lost everything just yet, so we’ve got to watch it all unfold.
The latest sponsor to drop Paula on her ass is Smithfield – you know, the ham people. Paula has had a major endorsement deal with Smithfield Foods for the past few years and has raked in quite a bit of cash from the deal, but the brand has now cut all ties with her.
From The New York Times:
Smithfield Foods, whose hams and other products Ms. Deen has endorsed since 2006, severed its relationship with her Monday. Smithfield, the world’s largest pork producer, has been the flagship in Ms. Deen’s collection of at least 17 licensing and endorsement partnerships.
At issue is Ms. Deen’s admission in a court deposition that she has used racial slurs and jokes that denigrate blacks.
“Smithfield condemns the use of offensive and discriminatory language and behavior of any kind,” Keira Lombardo, a Smithfield spokeswoman, said in a statement Monday. “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.”
Word up. QVC is also re-thinking their relationship with Paula, though I’m not sure what there is to think about. The woman is a racist asshole – seems pretty cut and dry to me. Here’s the thing: public companies like this need to cut their ties with her now – even though some of them probably think what she said is actually not all that bad – to save their own reputations and also to show that IT’S NOT OKAY TO TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THAT, OR TO USE THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE. Mostly the latter. Or, you know, entirely the latter.
Don’t feel too bad for Paula, though – there are still plenty of fellow racists that’ll go to her disgusting restaurant and support her, so she won’t go broke anytime soon.
Bill Maher defended her on last week’s show! One of his guests said that even if you are a racist @ss, you need to keep it under your hat or else you will lose your show!
That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’ve grown and matured as a person. Some of the views I had 30 years ago were asinine to say the absolute least! Has she said she stood by her views? In that case yes then she should lose everything.
It was 30 years ago! Why is she being punished for something awful she said in 1986?? I was a different person 30 years ago and thank God shit I said three decades ago isn’t being shared.
because the truth got out. not OK for a spokesperson of any kind. embarassing for the brands she used to work for – they can’t allow their name being mentioned in the same paragraph, let alone the same article/interview/whatever, which a racial slurr. this makes sense to me. BUH BYE, paula.
Well because also, it wasn’t 30 years ago. This case is new and her deposition came just last week. Get it right, people.
*WITH a racial slur was my meaning,
aaaand *embarrassing.
don’t bust meh, grammar & spelling police!!
must….have…coffee….
My God, those teeth are creepy.
Ah yes, the hypocritical PC people out in force again. Ho Hum. WAAAH, someone said something that offends me, so we have to hound them into humiliation. Meanwhile, the biggest racial whoremonger, Al Sharpton, is invited to the White House constantly. Please, spare me the outrage.
I have to agree. I don’t personally like her, but I don’t see the big deal with the language. Where I grew up, blacks were called “jungle bunnies”. In a recent study where a university professor looked at Twitter feeds to see where most of this type of language came from (there’s a neat little map) it is noted that almost all instances of the word “nigger” were sent from one black person to another. If they don’t care and call each other that, then why do you care so much?
POLITICAL CORECTNESS ENSLAVING US…. AMERICA GETTING BLACKER DAY BY DAY, FROM ALL POINTS OF VIEW….
“because the truth got out.” – WHAT TRUTH MORE EXACTLY, DUMBASS? WHAT TRUTH? THE SHIT IN UR HEAD U CALL IT TRUTH?
I am black i don’t see why paula had to loose so much, the word is a horrible word, but think of the era she came from
i think she should have had a talk with someone who know
what damage this word can do. I really don’t think that she
had the smarts to keep these things to her self, she forgot
the people who cook for her are just about all black, and the
person who turned her in was one of her kind. so maybe it was something else she should have said
But its ok for black rappers to go on about killing whites….and for stores to sell, profit and spread that message right? Because its only racist from white to black or brown…not visa versa?
Hypocrites.
??? ??