Paula Deen racist remarks, Celebrity chef Paula Deen has admitted to using the N-word and wanting to plan a 'plantation-style wedding' with black waiters dressed like slaves.
The queen of Southern cuisine also revealed she referred to an underage waitress as a 'piece of p****' and said she was not offended by racist or sexist jokes - even when members of her family told them.
The startling admissions stem from a May 17 deposition Deen, 66, gave in lawsuit filed against her and her brother Earl 'Bubba' Hiers.
Lisa Jackson is seeking $1.2million over claims that she was routinely exposed to racist slurs and sexual harassment while managing at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House in Savannah, Georgia - a restaurant owned by Deen's company and run by her brother.
The allegations span the years 2005 to 2010, when Deen's Food empire was expanding rapidly.
Deen has be come an internationally-renowned chef, thanks to her numerous Food Network TV shows, including 'Paula's Home Cooking' and 'Paula's Party.' She has become known for her charm and quick-witted Southern banter.
The lawsuit alleges Deen hired Jackson to plan her brother's wedding and then told her: 'What I would really like is a bunch of little n******s to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties. Now, that would be a true Southern wedding wouldn't it?'
Deen denied that she has used in the N-word in that context - or any time in the last several years.
However, she admitted she loved the idea of have only older black men dressed Civil War-era house slave garb serve guests.
She got the idea from a restaurant that she and her husband ate at in North Carolina or Tennessee.
The Huffington Post has obtained a transcript of the deposition in question. The quotes below are pulled directly from it.
On using the N-word:
Lawyer: Have you ever used the N-word yourself?
Deen: Yes, of course.
Lawyer: Okay. In what context?
Deen: Well, it was probably when a black man burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head.
Lawyer: Okay. And what did you say?
Deen: Well, I don't remember, but the gun was dancing all around my temple ... I didn't -- I didn't feel real favorable towards him.
Lawyer: Okay. Well, did you use the N-word to him as he pointed a gun in your head at your face?
Deen: Absolutely not.
Lawyer: Well, then, when did you use it?
Deen: Probably in telling my husband.
Lawyer: Okay. Have you used it since then?
Deen: I'm sure I have, but it's been a very long time.
Lawyer: Can you remember the context in which you have used the N-word?
Deen: No.
Lawyer: Has it occurred with sufficient frequency that you cannot recall all of the various context in which you've used it?
Deen: No, no.
Lawyer: Well, then tell me the other context in which you've used the N-word?
Deen: I don't know, maybe in repeating something that was said to me.
Lawyer: Like a joke?
Deen: No, probably a conversation between blacks. I don't -- I don't know. But that's just not a word that we use as time has gone on. Things have changed since the '60s in the south. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior. As well as I do.
On her brother's behavior:
Lawyer: Are you aware of Mr. Hiers admitting that he engaged in racially and sexually inappropriate behavior in the workplace?
...
Deen: I guess
Lawyer: Okay. Well, have you done anything about what you heard him admit to doing?
Deen: My brother and I have had conversations. My brother is not a bad person. Do humans behave inappropriately? At times, yes. I don't know one person that has not. My brother is a good man. Have we told jokes? Have we said things that we should not have said, that -- yes, we all have. We all have done that, every one of us.
On telling jokes that target African Americans, Jews, gays and other groups:
Lawyer: What about jokes, if somebody is telling a joke that's got --
Deen: It's just what they are, they're jokes.
Lawyer: Okay. Would you consider those to be using the N word in a mean way?
…
Deen: That's -- that's kind of hard. Most -- most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, black folks. Most jokes target -- I don't know. I didn't make up the jokes, I don't know. I can't -- I don't know.
Lawyer: Okay.
Deen: They usually target, though a group. Gays or straights, black, redneck, you know, I just don't know. I can't, myself, determine what offends another person.
On planning a Southern plantation-style wedding:
Lawyer: Do you recall using the words “really southern plantation wedding”? Deen: Yes, I did say I would love for Bubba to experience a very southern style wedding, and we did that. We did that.
Lawyer: Okay. You would love for him to experience a southern style plantation wedding?
Deen: Yes.
Lawyer: That’s what you said?
Deen: Well, something like that, yes. And -–
Laywer: Okay. And is that when you went on to describe the experience you had at the restaurant in question?
Deen: Well, I don’t know. We were probably talking about the food or –- we would have been talking about something to do with service at the wedding, and –-
...
Lawyer: Is there any possibility, in your mind, that you slipped and used the word “n----r”?
Deen: No, because that’s not what these men were. They were professional black men doing a fabulous job.
Lawyer: Why did that make it a -– if you would have had servers like that, why would that have made it a really southern plantation wedding?
...
Deen: Well, it –- to me, of course I’m old but I ain’t that old, I didn’t live back in those days but I’ve seen the pictures, and the pictures that I’ve seen, that restaurant represented a certain era in America.
Lawyer: Okay.
Deen: And I was in the south when I went to this restaurant. It was located in the south.
Lawyer: Okay. What era in America are you referring to?
Deen: Well, I don’t know. After the Civil War, during the Civil War, before the Civil War.
Lawyer: Right. Back in an era where there were middle-aged black men waiting on white people.
Deen: Well, it was not only black men, it was black women.
Lawyer: Sure. And before the Civil War –- before the Civil War, those black men and women who were waiting on white people were slaves, right?
Deen: Yes, I would say that they were slaves.
Lawyer: Okay.
Deen: But I did not mean anything derogatory by saying that I loved their look and their professionalism.
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