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It’s not as if I’m telling people the street to stop using that word, either. I don’t see how this bothers you to be honest.</p>
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<p>Renewing Irvine has really a lot to do with the obvious inability to find better talent. Except for the (debatable) success with Guy Fieri, their search for a new “star” has been abysmal forcing them to an endless recycling of shows based on their popular hosts. This us why the current shows are all based on Alton, Giada, and probably their only real star left, namely Bobby Flay. When you have to rely on untalented and annoying cooks a la Alex G and Robert Irvine, you know that trouble is brewing. And then add the explosion of social media and the 24/7 availability of cooking videos, and the reason to watch TFN has greatly diminished. </p>
<p>As far as annoying TV personas, Paula Deen hardly held a monopoly. On the offensive side, did we not have to witness the incessant “smooching” and sexual innendos of the Neelys? </p>
<p>Of course, we all have a choice and flipping channels is not that hard. Unless one lives with someone who thinks HGTV and TFN should be on at all times. :)</p>
<p>I have never thought of Paula Deen as typical of southerners; I like to think of them as more genteel. Having spent my entire working life in the restaurant industry I have known quite a few men with attitudes similar to brother Bubba’s. Having been subjected to them as a teenager working in restaurant kitchens, and often feeling uncomfortable and at times degraded, I find her “boys will be boys” attitude appalling. It’s hard enough for women in the industry. I’d like to think that things had improved in the last thirty years and that a woman with her power would be part of a solution or at least sensitive to the problems.</p>
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<p>There was a similar conclusion reached at a CNN piece on the Deen racial slurs. </p>
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<p>Well, Paula came close by liking to parade that wannabe garden gnome of a husband in front of the TV. This said, some of the footage of Hillbilly Michael traveling to London and St Lucia had to be among the most hilarious on TFN. </p>
<p>Deliverance in London!</p>
<p>I haven’t followed this closely but it seems to me the media has been harsh on her - and I’m not a fan at all. </p>
<p>I think Food Network wanted to move past her and this was a convenient excuse. Her time was done. </p>
<p>I agree they have absolutely failed at creating stars. That may reflect their drive toward more of these silly competition shows where you can use guest judges that include your own network’s minor celebrities. We aren’t privy to their marketing discussions. What I’ve seen is a move away from cooking shows, meaning away from the type of shows where you need star identity, more toward varieties of competition shows. Their secondary channel has picked up some of the cooking show slack but not all. They may have lots of research that says they need to do this to draw the right & younger demographic. MTV and VH1 not only went through this but realized they need to revamp every few years as their core audience ages. MTV in particular has to deal with a new crop of teens and late teens every 4 years or so.</p>
<p>Has anyone seen the episode of LouisCK’s show in which he and a group of fellow comedians are playing poker and end up discussing the use of the gay slur beginning with F? </p>
<p>It’s one of the best things on this kind of topic, IMHO.</p>
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<p>Am I this old? Never owned a cordless phone except cell phones.</p>
<p>dmd - I agree with you. It’s about time we get de-sensitized. We are becoming a minority nation. The combined minority population is becoming a majority.</p>
<p>xiggi. xiggi. Stereotypes of hillbilly southerners? Toothless, with the hunting dawg on the porch? He’s a prop. So are her DIL and grandsons, Ina Garten’s husband, Giada’s daughter. </p>
<p>If it didn’t work with the audiences, these extras wouldn’t appear. if no one was interested in her recipes, no one would tune in. </p>
<p>That said, don’t know why any grown man publicly goes by Bubba.</p>
<p>Oh, I am so glad that Xiggi said what I’ve been saying about the Neeleys for years. Ugh!!! The Neeleys, Deen, Deen’s sons as well as others really never taught their audience much about food…but at least Deen was funny in an eccentric, Justin Wilson (“I GAR-RUN-TEE”) sort of way.</p>
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<p>Many, many are not so genteel. I grew up in a very small southern town and still visit there regularly. I still encounter a very uncomfortable level of racism, homophobia and intolerance of anything not Southern Baptist. The Methodists are cut a little slack. I grew up hearing the n word. My family regularly called Brazil nuts n toes and chocolate drops also had an n word moniker. Racist jokes were common and black people always came to the back door. Some still do. There are people in the local church who have declared they would not set foot in the church if a black person joins and some threatened to leave the church if the social hall were used by a local black family. A black family opened a little diner in town and friends of my mother were openly critical of my mother for eating there. My grandmother once told me that she was not racist, she just thought “they” needed to know “their” place. I know many Paula Deen types and they might not consider themselves racist but they still believe that “they” should know “their” place. True equality is not on the table.</p>
<p>I think this video from 2012 is more telling than the deposition. In it she sympathizes with her grandfather’s trauma when slavery was outlawed and then drags her token black friend onto the stage to prove that she is not a racist.</p>
<p>She’s the worst kind of racist, IMO because it is so deeply ingrained in her moral fiber, she doesn’t even recognize it. </p>
<p>[Paula</a> Deen – Meet My Black Friend … If You Can See Him! | TMZ.com](<a href=“Paula Deen”>Paula Deen)</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>EPTR CC needs a Like button!!!</p>
<p>The way she spoke to/about and introduced her token friend was seriously cringe-worthy, and how she tried to dance around her great grandfathers plantation losses was clearly awkward. But while I am no fan of hers, I do have sympathy for someone who is describing a family member’s suicide.</p>
<p>If The Today Show had a sense of humor, they would strap a white background to Al Roker as a visual aid for her when she comes on the show tomorrow.</p>
<p>I am shocked that Paula’s family members were plantation owners. How’s this for stereotyping: I always assumed that she was an uneducated, poor, ignorant woman who grew up in a one-room shack and was just one step above raised by wolves, therefore couldn’t be expected to know any better, but had made all that money by working hard and being outrageous.</p>
<p>Apparently not.</p>
<p>She’s going to be on the Today Show tomorrow??? What made her change her mind?</p>
<p>Zoosermom, you give her too much credit. :)</p>
<p>My husband spend part of his childhood in Georgia back in the 1960’s. He lived in Atlanta in an apartment complex. He remembers one time when a black child jumped into the apartment swimming pool. The apartment manager told everyone to get out of the pool. They then drained the pool and had the pool floor cleaned and sanitized. I’m pretty sure the N word was used a lot back then. </p>
<p>We have come a long way. If she used the word years ago and not recently then I think the media is over reacting.</p>
<p>I guess time is relative. To me, 2007 is a not “in another time”. In fact, it is alleged that she even knew how it would look if people found out about the wedding fiasco.</p>
<p>Her goose is cooked. Buh bye!</p>