#151
Posted: 6/26/13 at 12:03pm
From Facebook's Marquis de Suave.
Some of you know that I work in television, particularly for the Food Network as well whatever reality based culinary show that I get hired to. A few of my readers asked me privately my take on Paula Deen.
I know Paula Deen personally. I have worked on shows that she has been a part of, while never working on one of here FN Paula Deen branded shows directly. I have met her at least a dozen times, and she knows me by my face although never has remembered my name (which is okay, she has to meet about 100 new people a day). She is actually a nice lady. I've worked with some really HUGE personalities on The Food Network, and Paula Deen is definitely not somebody who I would speak ill about professionally. She's not a diva, she is professional and she comes to WORK when she's on set.
That being said, I always thought she was a little bit tipsy when she was working. I've never seen her drink on-set, but I just got the idea that
she had a little something in her dressing room to get herself into her zone.
She also LOVED to pepper her work day with sexual innuendo AT EVERY TURN. If she was working with a stalk of corn or a cucumber, you can bet that a penis joke would escape her mouth. This happened all the time, and it could get annoying, albeit she never made anybody uncomfortable.
All in all, I think Paula Deen is/was a cool person to work with.
Now we get to the meaty part. I think what she said and what she has done in her private life is pretty much the real Paula Deen. At work, Paula knew that her views on race would be unpopular, so she avoided anything racial while working on set. In her real life however, she is the kind of person who think it's perfectly okay to call blacks the "n-word" and had no problem thinking it's a great idea to dress blacks up as slaves to serve white people at a wedding. That's despicable behavior and showed me that her whole "I'm a nice old Southern Lady" act was just that: AN ACT. She was nice on set because she needed to be, and she knew that the real Paula Deen would never ever fly.
Now her apologists are now saying that the Food Network has silenced her right to free speech by taking her off the air. That of course is completely false. THey decided against signing her to another contract for a number of reasons, the racism thing was just the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. Her ratings had gone down, she took a huge hit when the diabetes fiasco was uncovered and her act had grown tired after nearly 15 years on television. She had a nice run for a woman of very limited culinary talents. However, the Food Network was NOT selling her food, they were SELLING HER PERSONALITY. When her real feelings towards blacks and others were finally shown to the public, then it was a simple choice for them to not sign her to another long term contract. The Food Network ALSO has a right to free speech and who they show on their network. Had she signed on for another couple years, the Food Network would have had a tough time lining up sponsors for her show. They are a business who are in business to make money. When they looked at the declining ratings and the controversy of her words and actions, they did what any sensible business will do, they went in another direction.
Words have consequences, and in Paula Deen's case, those actions led to her unemployment. There is no room in America for her views on race, and even though she NEVER voiced them on television, it became clear where she stood. In fact, she thought her words are okay, because she "came from an era where that word was okay to say" or "black rappers say that word all the time". To those who use this lame excuse to apologize for her, I have 3 things to say: 1) She was saying the "n-word" for a lot longer than rap music has been around; 2) That era she came from is a stain on our country; and 3) go f&^k yourself with a fat Paula Deen brand pie.
Toodles,
MdS
Marquis de Suave
Some of you know that I work in television, particularly for the Food Network as well whatever reality based culinary show that I get hired to. A few of my readers asked me privately my take on Paula Deen.
I know Paula Deen personally. I have worked on shows that she has been a part of, while never working on one of here FN Paula Deen branded shows directly. I have met her at least a dozen times, and she knows me by my face although never has remembered my name (which is okay, she has to meet about 100 new people a day). She is actually a nice lady. I've worked with some really HUGE personalities on The Food Network, and Paula Deen is definitely not somebody who I would speak ill about professionally. She's not a diva, she is professional and she comes to WORK when she's on set.
That being said, I always thought she was a little bit tipsy when she was working. I've never seen her drink on-set, but I just got the idea that
she had a little something in her dressing room to get herself into her zone.
She also LOVED to pepper her work day with sexual innuendo AT EVERY TURN. If she was working with a stalk of corn or a cucumber, you can bet that a penis joke would escape her mouth. This happened all the time, and it could get annoying, albeit she never made anybody uncomfortable.
All in all, I think Paula Deen is/was a cool person to work with.
Now we get to the meaty part. I think what she said and what she has done in her private life is pretty much the real Paula Deen. At work, Paula knew that her views on race would be unpopular, so she avoided anything racial while working on set. In her real life however, she is the kind of person who think it's perfectly okay to call blacks the "n-word" and had no problem thinking it's a great idea to dress blacks up as slaves to serve white people at a wedding. That's despicable behavior and showed me that her whole "I'm a nice old Southern Lady" act was just that: AN ACT. She was nice on set because she needed to be, and she knew that the real Paula Deen would never ever fly.
Now her apologists are now saying that the Food Network has silenced her right to free speech by taking her off the air. That of course is completely false. THey decided against signing her to another contract for a number of reasons, the racism thing was just the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. Her ratings had gone down, she took a huge hit when the diabetes fiasco was uncovered and her act had grown tired after nearly 15 years on television. She had a nice run for a woman of very limited culinary talents. However, the Food Network was NOT selling her food, they were SELLING HER PERSONALITY. When her real feelings towards blacks and others were finally shown to the public, then it was a simple choice for them to not sign her to another long term contract. The Food Network ALSO has a right to free speech and who they show on their network. Had she signed on for another couple years, the Food Network would have had a tough time lining up sponsors for her show. They are a business who are in business to make money. When they looked at the declining ratings and the controversy of her words and actions, they did what any sensible business will do, they went in another direction.
Words have consequences, and in Paula Deen's case, those actions led to her unemployment. There is no room in America for her views on race, and even though she NEVER voiced them on television, it became clear where she stood. In fact, she thought her words are okay, because she "came from an era where that word was okay to say" or "black rappers say that word all the time". To those who use this lame excuse to apologize for her, I have 3 things to say: 1) She was saying the "n-word" for a lot longer than rap music has been around; 2) That era she came from is a stain on our country; and 3) go f&^k yourself with a fat Paula Deen brand pie.
Toodles,
MdS
Marquis de Suave
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