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At Georgia Restaurant, Patrons Jump to Defend a Chef From Her Critics (Paula Dean)
NYTimes ^ | 6/23/2013 | KIM SEVERSON

Posted on 06/23/2013 7:24:00 AM PDT by RoosterRedux

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The line of Paula Deen fans waiting for her restaurant here to open grew throughout the hot, muggy morning Saturday.

They discussed what they might select from the buffet inside The Lady and Sons, her wildly popular restaurant in the heart of Savannah.

But they also talked of boycotting the Food Network, which dropped their beloved TV chef on Friday after she awkwardly apologized for having used racial slurs and for considering a plantation-themed wedding for her brother, with well-dressed black male servants.

The predicament that Ms. Deen finds herself in began when a former employee — a white woman who is now managing restaurants in Atlanta — filed a discrimination lawsuit in March 2012. She claimed that racial epithets, racist jokes and pornography on office computers were common while she managed Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, one of the restaurants in Ms. Deen’s empire. Forbes has estimated her net worth at $17 million.

Most of the diners in line on Saturday morning were white and more than ready to defend one of their favorite cooking stars. But at the very front was Nicole T. Green, 36, an African-American who said she had made a detour from a vacation in New Orleans specifically to show up in support of Ms. Deen.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: deen; lisajackson; lisatjackson; pauladeen
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To: grania

Hey, where is your brain at?

That is WAAAAY to commonsense!


81 posted on 06/23/2013 10:36:28 AM PDT by rlmorel (Silence: The New Hate Speech)
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To: EricT.

I like to hit them with facts they cannot deny. I like to watch them get really uncomfortable. I mind is a terrible thing not to play with.


82 posted on 06/23/2013 10:37:01 AM PDT by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: La Lydia
Yet Bill Maher still has a job ...

Maher insults Christians and Conservatives. In the media world that's career enhancing.

83 posted on 06/23/2013 10:38:21 AM PDT by 0.E.O
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To: lonestar

I’m 62. Grew up in South Philly. Probably used at least one “racial epithet”
every day of my life. A spade is a spade.


84 posted on 06/23/2013 10:42:26 AM PDT by Palio di Siena
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To: rlmorel
David Horowitz, an author who speaks with great authority on liberalism (because he was one)...

Quite familiar with Horowitz, another one who got dragged down the hall early on in his career. His eyes were opened when his secretary, a mother of small children, was murdered by Black Panthers. He had been a darling the left as an editor of Ramparts magazine with the Berkeley crowd in the late 60s-early 70s. His rejection by the left (at his outrage over the murder and subsequent questioning of the commie dogma) changed him, and since then he has become one of conservatism's dogged generals, taking on one fight after another on campuses around the nation. Maybe there's hope for Paula.

85 posted on 06/23/2013 10:44:14 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("Remember... the first revolutionary was Satan."--Russian Orthodox Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov)
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To: RoosterRedux

The online “Like” page on Facebook is well over 100,000 and that was just as of this morning.


86 posted on 06/23/2013 10:45:11 AM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to thoe tumbril wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: bmwcyle

I’ve tried that. The conversation invariably gets switched to college football, which I find as interesting as the topic of feminine hygiene products.


87 posted on 06/23/2013 10:45:39 AM PDT by EricT. (MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN)
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To: rlmorel
I see my approval of her “being hoisted on her own petard” as being just desserts, actual justice, not gloating.

Not referring to you, my FRiend; but you do hear a lot of it on Deen threads. Sad.

88 posted on 06/23/2013 10:45:54 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("Remember... the first revolutionary was Satan."--Russian Orthodox Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov)
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To: RoosterRedux

Yes, when you aren’t used to heavy creams, real butter and oil, it can get to you. My daughter can’t handle heavily greasy meals either.


89 posted on 06/23/2013 10:46:24 AM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to thoe tumbril wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: EricT.

I know, right? My relatives’ idea of a vegetable side dish is that a few beans are the occasional chunks one encounters in the melted cheese, breadcrumbs and butter.


90 posted on 06/23/2013 10:49:12 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("Remember... the first revolutionary was Satan."--Russian Orthodox Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov)
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To: ilovesarah2012

it means what the market wants it to mean... as for me, i do not give crap if she loses her livelihood... people lose their jobs all the time for nothing other than the market...


91 posted on 06/23/2013 10:50:31 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: tacticalogic

i think she may even lean more left after this... to prove herself...


92 posted on 06/23/2013 10:53:36 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: RoosterRedux

Maybe she should have run for Senate as a Democrat before revealing the fact that she used the N word. Then everything would have been excused. Never mind the fact that she used this term in describing a black man who shoved a gun in her face while attempting to rob the bank where she worked at the time. He should have tried shoving that gun in my face. I would have referred to him thereafter as the dead guy who tried to rob me.
Funny thing is a person can say anything they want about Sarah Palin and it’s okay.


93 posted on 06/23/2013 11:07:22 AM PDT by cquiggy
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To: katykelly

Yes, definitely Emeril, but Paula was also very important a was Rachel Ray.


94 posted on 06/23/2013 11:46:30 AM PDT by LS ('Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually.' Hendrix)
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To: GOPJ

yes, exactly. So what is really behind the Paula Deen firing?


95 posted on 06/23/2013 12:26:10 PM PDT by Burlem
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To: grania

It was actually more than dumb, considering she’s in the spotlight and hopes to have a lot of business from a lot of different backgrounds.

Celebrities either have to walk that thin PC line, or risk losing business over it. We don’t like it, but it’s the truth.

Personally, I don’t care either way. She did what she felt she had to do in order to try and survive and come out with her business intact and I can’t blame her. But doing what she did, where employees could hear, was surprising to me, and disappointing.

But she doesn’t have to please me, just her fans. I ate at her restaurant once. Never will again and would not recommend it to anyone other than as a novelty. Nothing she does appeals to me, personally, but she has her following.

And I really don’t like anyone, black or white, to use that word. It makes me uncomfortable. I was raised an Air Force brat and there were all skin colors in my neighborhood - and my family never used that word. Plain and simple, It’s just crass to me - and uncalled for.


96 posted on 06/23/2013 1:11:59 PM PDT by Heart of Georgia
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To: Albion Wilde

Yes, Moses shouldered great wisdom down the mountain...

Thou shalt not be overweight.

Thou shalt not use words that made people feel put upon.

Thou shalt not drink cheap coffee.

Thou shalt not make fun of entitled brats or liberal elites.

Thou shalt not confuse shallow fashion with great wisdom.


97 posted on 06/23/2013 1:14:08 PM PDT by GOPJ (... liberal anger - - the privileged wheeze of entitled brats ... Greenfield)
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To: rlmorel
“Remember that they have succeeded when they (the government) does not have to censor your speech or thoughts, but that you censor yourself.

I believe the term was a component of “ThoughtCrime” called “Crimethink”.

Not to parse definitions but I believe you are referring to “Crimestop”

“Crimestop” means to rid oneself of unwanted thoughts, i.e., thoughts that interfere with the ideology of the Party. This way, a person avoids committing thoughtcrime.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughtcrime

98 posted on 06/23/2013 1:18:28 PM PDT by Polynikes (What would Walt Kowalski do. In the meantime "GET OFF MY LAWN")
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To: Cyber Liberty

“Food was that bad, huh?”

(Didn’t realize this was so long!)

Maybe we went on the wrong day, but the whole experience was that bad. My family took a drive to Savannah, 7 of us, and decided to try PD’s place. Since it was popular, we thought it would be good.

The wait along the sidewalk was about an hour. Once inside the doors, we got on the list and had another long wait — while we conveniently browsed through Paula’s gift shop while trying to kill some time. Both floors.

When we were finally seated, they scrunched us into a tiny booth made for 4 people at the most. They did bring out a chair for someone to sit on the outside, so that helped a bit, but still tight. The 4 women are small and it would have been fine for us, but the men are big guys and we were all bumping elbows, very uncomfortable.

It’s been 3 years, so I don’t remember everything, but the mac & cheese and the mashed potatoes were bad (how on Earth do you mess those up)!!!

And the chicken at the self-serve bar tasted like that Banquet frozen dinner chicken, very tiny pieces, and the bread either wasn’t fresh or it was overdone.

I made the mistake of ordering one of the specials, fried green tomatoes. It was a very expensive order of about 4, maybe 6 slices. I thought they would be like my mom’s, but they were half-raw (crunchy) greasy green tomatoes. But they were hot, so I know they at least put them in long enough to brown the batter.

The only decent thing I had was the cheesecake. But apparently we had overstayed our welcome by that time, because as I was finishing my dessert, the waiter swooped down and grabbed my plate, and I actually stabbed the table with my fork as my plate disappeared. That’s how fast it was.

We laugh about it now, of course.


99 posted on 06/23/2013 1:40:49 PM PDT by Heart of Georgia
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To: Heart of Georgia

I have a simple rule, never go to a restaurant with a gift shop.


100 posted on 06/23/2013 1:41:40 PM PDT by dfwgator
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