Paula Deen fires social media manager over brownface photo controversy
Paula Deen says she fired the social media manager who tweeted a photo from her account Tuesday showing her son Bobby in a Ricky Ricardo costume with brownface.
Deen also appears in the shot, dressed as Lucille Ball. The photo — which was quickly deleted — was captioned, "Lucyyyyyyy! You got a lot of esplainin' to do! #TransformationTuesday." In a statement to People, Deen's representatives said, "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."
The celebrity chef came under fire in 2013 when it came out that she admitted in a deposition to using the "n-word." In the aftermath, Deen lost several sponsors and was dropped by the Food Network.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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