Paula Deen Dropped By The Food Network

As a business teacher, I am always interested in successful women.  What inspired them?  What sacrifices did they make?  What challenges did they face?

To answer those questions I read two of Paula's books and learned that she married young and divorced when she was in her twenties.  She found herself the mother of two young sons with $200 to her name.

Her cooking career began simply as a catering service making sandwiches and meals which her sons Jaimie and Bobby delivered.

Eventually Paula's business, The Bag Lady, outgrew its humble beginnings and in January 1996 she opened her own restaurant.   Her restaurant, The Lady & Sons eventually moved to a larger building in Savannah's historic district. In 1999 USA Today named her restaurant, The Lady & Sons the "International Meal of the Year.

Deen's relationship with the Food Network began in 1999 and in June 2007 she won a Daytime Emmy Award for her show Paula's Home Cooking.

So what happened?  Why are Paula and The Food Network parting ways?  The answer is lay in allegations that Paula had used racial slurs during depositions for a lawsuit brought by a former employee, Lisa Jackson.

It is alleged that "In the presence of Ms. Jackson and Uncle Bubba's restaurant manager and vendor, Bubba Heirs stated they should send President Obama to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico so that he could N**er-rig it.

According to the court documents, the plaintiff stated that she was appointed by Deen to handle the catering and staff for Bubba's wedding in 2007 and she asked Deen what the servers should wear:  "Well what I would rally like is a bunch of little n**ers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts, and bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around."  the plaintiff alleged Deen told her.  "Now that would be a true Southern wedding wouldn't it?  But we can't do that because the media would be on me about that."

In her deposition for the suit Deen stated that she used the "N Word" at times saying "Yes of course" she did and acknowleged making racist jokes though she claims she is not racist.  "It's just what they are--they're jokes..most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, black folks..I can't determine what offends another person."



Paula was suppose to appear on the Today show to speak about the controversy bt was a no show.  Instead she released three videos.  In the first 46-second video Deen addresses what she deems as the inappropriate language that was totally unacceptable.



In the second video Deen reiterates her apology stating "Your color of your skin, your religion, your sexal preference does not matter to me.  It's what's in the heart and my family and I try to live by that

Deen then released a short third video apologizing to Matt Lauer for not appearing on his show as originally planned.




Can Paula Deen repair her brand?  Perhaps.  I think it depends upon what kind of outreach she makes to the black community and the passage of time.  In the end it will be a strong fan base that will help Paula recover from this blow to her career.