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by Clarence Page
You knew
"I've had wonderful support from Rev. Jackson," she said in a tearfully apologetic interview with
Fallout from that revelation and other racial remarks began to unravel the celebrity chef's food and media empire with breathtaking speed. The Food Network dropped her two shows, and a parade of major corporations have cut business ties from her and her products.
But Rev. Jackson, who has stirred up more than a few racial controversies of his own over the years, stepped up to defend Deen. She shouldn't become a "sacrificial lamb" to the cause of racial tolerance, he told
I'll go even further. I think
While being questioned on
The federal lawsuit contends among other charges that racial slurs and jokes about women, Jews and blacks were common at Uncle Bubbas. Questioned about racial and ethnic jokes, Dean said in the video deposition and on the "Today Show," "I can't determine what offends another person." By now I hope she has a better idea.
Her cross-cultural cluelessness shows itself vividly in the video of her appearance at the
Since my family is rooted in the South, I've been hearing that "like our family" line since I was a kid. I'm
Deen offered a hint of that separate world, although not in the way she might have meant, when she pointed to a dark backdrop on the Times' stage to illustrate how her long and trusted driver, bodyguard and assistant,
"Come out here, Hollis," she adds, looking offstage. "We can't see you standing against that dark board."
With that, she reminded me of some of my white dormitory friends in college who thought they were, oh, so clever every time the lights went out and they said, "Smile, Clarence, so we can see you!" Why, I wondered aloud, do white guys always think they're the first to think of that joke?
My classmates have learned better since then, I hope.
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Article: Copyright ©, Tribune Media Services Inc.
"Paula Deen's Menu: Foot in Mouth "