Arts & Entertainment
Was Paula Deen's Firing the Right Call?
In the wake of the recent scandal, was the Food Network correct in dumping the Georgia-based comfort food chef?
In the wake of celebrity chef Paula Deen’s Friday firing from the Food Network hours after her apology for revealed racist deposition testimony in an Atlanta court in which Deen admitted to using the N-word and other racial slurs, her supporters came out in droves over the weekend.
By Sunday afternoon, the newly formed “We Support Paula Deen” Facebook page had already generated more than 240,000 likes.
And on the Food Network’s Facebook page, her supporters chimed in there, as well:
“None of us are who we used to be, so punishing her for making a mistake a long time ago and being honest about it! I think the Food Network has gone too far.....”
“Food Network, I will no longer be watching any show that you put out until Paula Deen is brought back! To try to destroy someone for a mistake that she made so many years ago, is obscene!”
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“No Paula Deen no Food Network!!!! We should look back in the past of the people who fired her and see what it unfolds.”
But many others supported the network's actions:
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“TV networks cannot support any form of racial slurs. Doubt very much if their ratings will go down at all.”
“The Food Network did the right thing. Who is Paula Deen anyway? I never heard of her. Great job food network! Congratulations on doing the right thing!!!!!!!”“Thank you food Network!! People who practice Anti-Semitism, sexual harassers and bigots should not be allowed to profit in this country. She and her brother did all three, recently.”Even Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed chimed in during his Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. Said Reed, “I think she’s apologized once. She’s going to continue to do that. But it was very unfortunate and totally unacceptable.”
Deen’s shows have been televised on the Food Network for more than a decade, but that will no longer be the case it appears in the wake of the scandal that originated when a former employee of Deen’s Savannah-based restaurant sued the chef and her brother saying that she was forced to work in an environment filled with racial innuendo and slurs.
Did the Food Network make the right call in dumping the Georgia-based comfort food chef? Tell us in the comments.
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