Paula Deen: Painful Farewell

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness.

Only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate.

Only love can do that.”

                                                    Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The sudden firing of Paula Deen from the Food Network after 11 years says more about that Network and probably our society than about Paula herself.

We are blind if we do not see the LIGHT of grace in her farewell words:

"I have had the pleasure of being allowed into so many homes across the country and meeting people who have shared with me the most touching and personal stories. "This would not have been possible without the Food Network. Thank you again. Love and best dishes to all of ya'll."

That's right--she gave a bouquet to the people who fired her at Food Network!
Let's put it out in the open. Paula was being sued for a racial slur and harassment in the workplace.  She admitted under deposition that she had said the "n" word, but nothing else was publicized from that interview.  Now, let's set the context: the statements have not said when she used that language, only that it was a long time ago, and as she said, in a very different world.  Okay.  The comment was not current nor was it used on TV.  Let's state the obvious: Paul is no Don Imus or those "Shock Jocks" recently fired in Atlanta for on-air, live bigotry.  Listen to her own apology:

"Inappropriate, hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable. I've made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners – I beg for your forgiveness. 

Please forgive me for the mistakes that I've made."

  My turn at the mic....
 
So how exactly does her past effect what she models now?  There are two answers:

(1) What she said in the past is then, now and ever shall be an incrimination that forever invalidates her FoodNetwork contract,
OR...
(2) Her response was a complete apology for a time past which could serve as a redemptive example for a broad TV audience and culture--which is filled with violence, abuse and demeaning of human dignity. 

I do not run the Food Network.  They have their right to hire and fire employees. I suppose that they could have suspended her pending outcome of the suit.  We can only wonder what the Food Network would do if it placed all employees under a deposition?  For this reader, this is not Martha Stewart on her way to jail. This is a lawsuit from many years ago.  Food Network has missed the chance to set an example for TV culture sadly missing in daily broadcasts. Paula will rise again because you can't keep that kind of forthright apology and  love of her profession down.  She let the light in.