Paula Deen

Click here if you don't know why Paula Deen is taking heat on Twitter. Here are some tweets that caught my eye as I followed the commentary on Twitter:

The real reason Paula Deen's in the news is not because she's racist, but because she broke the unwritten rules about how to be racist now.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) June 19, 2013

Deen's comically nostalgic version of racism is absolutely inconsequential compared to, say, the war on drugs.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) June 19, 2013

slave ship es-cargo-t #PaulasBestDishes
— Crystal Fleming (@alwaystheself) June 20, 2013

Equalitea. #paulawontcookit
— Kevin A. Browne (@drbrowne) June 20, 2013

Sage Against The Machine #PaulaWontCookIt
— Trillma Dinkley (@NaniCoolJ) June 20, 2013

Irony: Paula Deen & Sons discovered the Neelys, which was the 1st Black show on Food Network (at least in recent memory). #PaulasBestDishes
— Brittney Cooper (@ProfessorCrunk) June 20, 2013

Ida Beef Wellington #paulawontcookit
— Brittney Cooper (@ProfessorCrunk) June 20, 2013

Freedom Fries #paulawontcookit
— DR.BROWN-DEAN (@KBDPHD) June 20, 2013

This Los Angeles Times article wondered if the Food Network will cut ties with Deen. The article references a statement from the Food Network which reads: "Food Network does not tolerate any form of discrimination and is a strong proponent of diversity and inclusion. We will continue to monitor the situation."

As it quickly turned out, the Food Network moved fast and fired Deen.

This led sociologist Crystal Fleming to make the following observation:

The sole reason #pauladeen got fired is because of Twitter. Period. In the 90s, she would've recovered w/ an apology.
— Crystal Fleming (@alwaystheself) June 22, 2013

And for those who are wondering why all of this matters, this article is a good place to start.

As Rashawn Ray tweets, this story is not just about the use of a vicious racial slur. It is also about workplace discrimination.

The Paula Dean situation is about much more than the Nword. It's about worker discrimination. #PaulaDeanTVShows
— Rashawn Ray (@SociologistRay) June 24, 2013

To read about how Deen's employees have accused her of discrimination, and to think about the importance of fair labor practices, see this article at Crunk Feminist Collective.