A blubbering Paula Deen went on national TV this morning and insisted she’s not a deep-fried bigot
The celebrity chef dissolved into tears on NBC’s “Today” show, trying to explain that she’s not a racist despite admitting under oath, in a deposition, that she’s used racial slurs in the past.
“It’s important to me that I tell you and everyone out there what I believe and how I live my life. I believe that every creature on this earth, every one of God’s creatures, was created equal,” Deen said.
“No matter who you choose to go to bed at night with. No matter what church you go to pray. I believe that everyone should be treated equal. That’s the way I was raised. That’s the way I live my life.”
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“Today” host Matt Lauer asked Deen if she was appearing on TV to stop the “financial bleeding” that started when the Food Network dropped her on Friday.
USA Today reported this morning that red-faced Caesars Entertainment – with four Deen-themed restaurants at its casinos – will cut its losses and run away from the controversial cook.
Deen has themed restaurants at four Caesars spots – Horseshoe Southern Indiana near Louisville, Harrah’s Tunica just outside of Memphis, Harrah’s Joliet near Chicago and Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina.
Caesars told the paper that it had “reached an agreement with Paula Deen Enterprises not to renew the business relationship.” Caesars will reportedly rebrand Deen’s greasy spoons into new restaurants.
“I am here today because I want people to know who I am,” Deen said the “Today” show.
“People that have worked beside me — have walked beside me — know what kind of person I am.”
Gently pressing the question further Lauer asked if she would have fired her if she were in the position of her business partners like QVC who are said to be considering their future with Deen.
“Would I have fired me? Knowing me? No.”
Lauer then asked the million dollar question, “I’ll ask you bluntly, are you a racist?”
“No, no I’m not,” Deen said before she went on to explain how her father had taught her to treat all people equally.
“As a child I was raised in a home that my father tolerated bad grades, he would tolerate maybe me breaking a curfew. But he told me, he said, ‘Girl, if I ever found out that you have behaved in a way where you think you’re better than others, or have been unkind, your butt is gonna be mine.'”
Despite the seemingly heartfelt explanation, Lauer challenged Deen after she admitted in a sworn deposition that she used the N-word.
“The day I used that word — it was a world ago. It was 30 years ago. I had had a gun put to my head,” Deen said as a part of a rambling retelling of the robbery where she was held at gunpoint, which was at the heart of her deposition.
“[Lawyers] asked me in all my 66 years on earth had I ever used it. That man was so frightened that day he put the gun to my head . . . I had gone out on a limb for him and gotten him a loan,” Deen said.
Deen then denied reports that she had admitted to using the N-word many times over the years in jokes, “[The N-word] is just not a part of who we are.”
Teary-eyed, Deen then went on the defensive describing how “distressing” the past few weeks have been for her and how, “I’m not gonna sit here and tell everything that I have done for people of color. I’m not gonna do it. Somebody else can tell that.”
“If there’s anyone out there that has never said something that they wish they could take back, if you’re out there please pick up that stone and throw it so hard at my head that it kills me. Please, I want to meet you.”
“I is what I is, and I’m not changing,” Deen said defiantly.
She also urged her fans not to boycott the Food Network, which dropped her last week.
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Page Six reported today that Deen hired crisis p.r. maven Judy Smith.
Deen testified in a May 17 deposition that she used the N-word when describing the fantasy wait staff to Lisa Jackson, a former employee who is now suing for racial and sexual harassment at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, which Deen owns with her brother Bubba.
In 2007, the 66-year-old chef suggested that her brother’s wedding be a “plantation”-style affair, complete with middle-aged black men in white jackets and black bowties serving as waiters
With AP