Paula Deen And Picture Of Son In Brownface: Deen Fires Social Media Manager


After all the trouble that was stirred up in not-too-long-ago history with Paula Deen and racist allegations, you would think the last thing a media manager of hers would do is post a picture of her and her son, the latter which was in brownface costume. The top chef with the southern drawl, tasty dishes, and more recently, penchant for healthy eating, was accused of racism yet again when photos surfaced from her and her son dressed as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, with the character of Ricky being done in “brownface,” which was taken in 2011. Outcry on social media like facebook and Twitter accused of her racism once again, begging the question if her tearful explanations over admitted use of the “N” word in the past were sincere.

Within hours, the photo was taken down, but the damage had been done. Deen once again says the photo was taken out of context and she fired her social media manager immediately for posting it. Tuesday morning, Deen’s account posted a #TransformationTuesday photo on Twitter, featuring herself as I Love Lucy‘s Lucy, her former producer Gordon Elliott, and her son Bobby Deen, in brownface, as Ricky. The tweet, which read “Lucyyyyyyy! You got a lot of esplainin’ to do! #Transformation Tuesday @BobbyDeen,” has since been deleted, but caused such fierce outcry just two years after the last racism debacle that Deen fired her social media manager.

Her representatives issued a statement to People magazine, saying that Paula Deen was not directly involved, and blamed a Deen employee for the post, who was immediately terminated as result of the posting of the picture.

“Paula Deen’s Social Media Manager posted a picture this morning of Paula and Bobby Deen dressed in costume as Lucy and Ricky, from I Love Lucy. This photograph is from a Halloween episode of Paula’s Best Dishes that aired in 2011. Paula immediately had this picture taken down as soon as she saw the post and apologizes to all who were offended. As such, Paula Deen Ventures has terminated their relationship with this Social Media Manager.”

As Ricky Ricardo would have said on his show, “Ay Yi Yi” – Deen does not seem to learn from her previous gregarious errors. Just two years ago, she was sued for hiring black women to dress as “plantation slaves” to appear on her popular show, and in court proceedings admitted to using the “N” word after several employees accused her of it. It may take more that the firing of her social media manager to undo this latest damage – it seems she’s building quite a reputation for herself.

[Photo by firstwefeast]

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