Photographer to Paula Deen: ‘Black People Still Love You’ [Video]
Paula Deen is on the comeback trail and apparently this African-American photographer is a big supporter.
The TMZ clip below shows the photographer approaching Deen in the LA airport as she talked with a group of fans and reporters about a recipe, and telling her, “No matter what happened, black people still love you.”
“That means everything to me,” Deen replied, grasping his hand.
He then told the smiling Paula, “That’s right. You still welcome in the ‘hood.”
Well, maybe in his ‘hood.
Deen, who The Inquisitr reports recently launched her digital Paula Deen Network, is still on many African-American’s bad side — despite several public apologies — after racist accusations brought against her by a former employee and her admission to using a racial slur brought her Food Network empire crumbling down around her head.
In fact, the recent announcement on the Steve Harvey Show that Paula would be teaching culinary skills to boys of all races at his upcoming Steve Harvey Mentoring Camp brought a rash of criticism from the African-American community.
According to EUR Web, Dr. Boyce Watkins, a prominent political analyst and social commentator, was very vocal in his opposition to Harvey’s decision. Watkins claims that he based his decision not to support the move on his grandmother’s belief that there is no “room for forgiveness” for the “Miss Paulas” of the world.
“I have to say that I disagree with Steve’s decision to work with Paula Deen, and I wish he would reconsider. In fact, I truly believe that, deep down, Steve doesn’t want to do this either,” Watkins said.
“My guess is that much of this has to do with money, for the same reasons that many of us might invite our racist boss to our house for dinner. I suspect that some higher-ups at Steve’s network are pushing him to leverage his credibility with the black community to position Paula so that she can take opportunities within the network. I can’t even say that I blame Steve for this one, since we all have to choose our battles.”
Hip Hop Wire reports Harvey knew the invitation to the disgraced chef would stir controversy. He defended his decision to give Paula another chance in his typical blunt manner.
“There has to be a good behind everything. If this woman…to me, I just know the good in her. That’s all I know. And it outweighs the bad by a landslide to me. Now, when you blog about me, put also in the blog — can you please type, right after you get through typing, that I don’t give a d**n.”
Do you think it’s time for African-Americans to forgive Paula Deen and give her another chance?
[Image via Time]
