Paula Deen Opens Mouth, Buttery Racist Remarks Fall Out?

(Man, I'm going to need a butter joke to open this post...  Oh, wait -- I got one!)  Someone butter up TV chef Paula Deen so she can slither out from under new allegations that she lobs around the N-word and wanted a slavery-themed wedding reception.

(Eh.  Sounded funnier in my head.)

One of Deen's former employees is suing the Food Network host and her brother, claiming racial and sexual discrimination.  And that's bizarre enough in itself, except there are alleged Deen quotes surfacing online today that certainly don't paint the chef in a good light.

But before we get too far, let's make quick note of a few things:

• A lawsuit only tells one side of any story, and it may not be possible to verify anything said in a lawsuit.
• One of the sources of all this noise is The National Enquirer.  Let's step lightly here, kids.
• At the same time, just because a lawsuit is one-sided and the National Enquirer is involved, it doesn't mean it DIDN'T happen.  Draw your own conclusions. I mean, come on -- she's a celebrity.  You think she got that far and didn't step on anyone during the climb up?

So what did she say?  Awaaaaay we go!

"Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n***ers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties. You know, in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around. Now, that would be a true Southern wedding wouldn't it? But we can't do that because the media would be on me about that."

--Source, Jackson v. Deen et al. lawsuit.

Then, Deen allegedly said the following during her deposition.  This allegedly comes from a video acquired by the National Enquirer.  She was talking about a wedding reception:

"The whole entire waiter staff was middle-aged black men, and they had on beautiful white jackets with a black bow tie…. “I mean, it was really impressive. That restaurant represented a certain era in America … after the Civil War, during the Civil War, before the Civil War…It was not only black men, it was black women … I would say they were slaves."

--Source: National Enquirer print edition

In the deposition, Deen also allegedly admitted to dropping the N-word, but saying she only used it in a joke context:

“It’s just what they are — they’re jokes…most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, black folks…I can’t determine what offends another person.”

Source -- National Enquirer print edition

Anyway, If you like reading lawsuits, you can read this one and judge for yourself.  I recommend reading it with a Southern accent.