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Not saying it is "okay," but it was a private wedding and don't a lot of weddings have themes? If the theme she wanted was a "traditional" southern wedding, and it was a private wedding, and the black servers involved had no problem with portraying slaves, then who cares? It's a theme; it is play-acting. I have gone to antebellum homes that have staff working there that are supposed to represent how things were in a bygone era. Are the people who agreed to work portraying those roles somehow being mistreated? I don't think so.
Equal-opp - I agree that Paula grew up in an era when saying that word was the norm and that she doesn't owe everyone an apology. It was 20 years ago. I think the person who brought the lawsuit is looking for MONEY. People will make a big deal out of anything if they think they can get rich without working for it. They see someone like Paula with lots of money and suddenly can think of all kinds of ways they've been "wronged."
Sure. You can do what you want at a private party. And others reserve the right to react, eapecilly if you're a public figure.
So lets say a male chef constantly gave his female employees nicknames by the size of their breasts. He also made jokes that implied women were stupid and shouldnt have the right to vote. Then he decided to throw a 1950s playboy themed party where he asked them all to dress up as bunnies and serve drinks. He even smacked a few of them on the butt.
All that would be within his rights to do but would you be outraged if he got fired from the Food Network? Even if he turned out to be married with 3 daughters who adore him?
I don't know if there's a statute of limitations on ignorant racial comments, but if there were, I guess it would go back to the 70s.
I agree. Having come of age in the late 1970s, I can assure you that comments such as those would not have been well received in normal, middle class circles. Not a chance.
I once said "okey, dokey smokey.." in response to a co-worker asking me to do something. Well, she was highly insulted and said it was a racial slur. I was shocked as I grew up in NYC saying it like after Smokey the Bear and BooBoo...
I apologized but I think she wanted blood. I then asked several other black co-workers if it offended them or if they had ever heard it as a slur and they all looked at me like I was nuts and said no.
I admit I haven't read through this entire, long thread.
But I thought Ms. Deen should have been canned when she continued promoting her seriously unhealthy cooking style, sugary products, etc. and didn't disclose that she had developed diabetes, at least partially due to her lifestyle and diet choices.
To me, that was the equivalent of adultery in a seller/customer relationship.
Aren't you missing the point: you may not have liked her, I didn't either: well I did for a very short while, but a little of her goes a long way, but the point isn't, they cut her, it is how and why. For those of us much past 50, if we got cut, got stabbed in the back or anything else for things we did and said, 20 plus years ago, we would all have lost jobs, friends, whatever. This isn't justifying what she did or said, but it is still chicken, the Food Network used this excuse to dump her. What part of that is so hard for many to understand?
The FN uses less than tactful practices to cut all their former chefs. Emeril was pretty much their first guy making it entertaining to watch his shows they axed him for young chefs. Mario Batali the same thing happened to him plus others. FN makes their money off them then cuts them lose seems to be their business practice. On the other hand they flood the market with their chefs where they are all over the place making appearances, hawking stuff that turns me off quick. Seems FN has 2 speeds full steam ahead & dumping.
I love Diners, Drive-ins & Dives but last night I tried watching some Guy makes me sick anymore same as Paula.
The FN uses less than tactful practices to cut all their former chefs. Emeril was pretty much their first guy making it entertaining to watch his shows they axed him for young chefs. Mario Batali the same thing happened to him plus others. FN makes their money off them then cuts them lose seems to be their business practice. On the other hand they flood the market with their chefs where they are all over the place making appearances, hawking stuff that turns me off quick. Seems FN has 2 speeds full steam ahead & dumping.
I love Diners, Drive-ins & Dives but last night I tried watching some Guy makes me sick anymore same as Paula.
Guy sends me diving for the remote even faster than Paula!
Why is insulting to ask and pay for black folks to portray slaves at a plantation party but not to ask for and pay actors to portray slaves in a movie like ????? Unchained, the big super hit recently. How can those actors be lauded and be given Oscars while an actor/server be insulted? Nobody made them do it-they were not really slaves. people dress up as Roman slaves for parties--is that racial insensitive? Should we not let our children dress as American Indians at Thanksgiving for school plays?
If the servers were forced to do something demeaning I could understand the outrage but geez...it's a paid gig they were probably happy to have.
'Redneck' does not isolate people by their genetic makeup, which is something that we have no control over. Rednecks do not have a long history of oppression for which there was no recourse.
To be a redneck is a matter of choice, once you are of legal age.
To some of us 'n' is just another word, but to many blacks it signifies generations of oppression. It is still a loaded word and hurtful. Many blacks have become upper and middle class and that word and its associations in no way apply to them. I can understand how they feel that it's insulting.
Maybe the South was a little slower in getting with the program and people did use that word much more than did Northerners. My thought is that once you become a recognizable 'personality' and promote yourself on the media your background is up for grabs. People will investigate and find things out. If you have anything to hide, you do not enter the glow of limelight.
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What part of that is so hard for many to understand?
