Paula Deen loves her some down south cooking … and apparently some racist down south culture, too.
A former longtime employee of the butter queen has come forward to disclose even more about the lady who once wanted to plan a slave-themed wedding. Now, Dora Charles is claiming that the African American staffers were forced to wear Aunt Jemima-style outfits while working in the restaurant that made Deen a star, Lady and Sons.
Charles also says that the staffers were asked to ring a bell while hollering “come and get it!”
And to add insult to injury, they were paid $10 while working with Deen and forced to listen to her use racist language around them.
“It’s just time that everybody knows that Paula Deen don’t treat me the way they think she treat me,” Charles said.
According to the Daily Mail:
Her relationship with Deen goes back 22 years during which time she helped her make a success of her now famous Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, GA.
Charles did everything from developing recipes to training a new generation of Deen-style chefs and became an integral part of her empire.
But when Deen asked her to ring that damn bell, Charles wasn’t having it.
“I said, ‘I’m not ringing no bell.’ That’s a symbol to me of what we used to do back in the day.”
When Charles refused, Deen asked another worker called Ineata Jones – who everyone apparently called Jellyroll – to do it. An image of Jones doing it was made into a postcard and sold in Deen’s stores.
“I’m not trying to portray that she is a bad person. I’m just trying to put my story out there that she didn’t treat me fairly and I was her soul sister.”
Deen’s spokesman spoke out about the allegations:
“Fundamentally Dora’s complaint is not about race but about money. It is about an employee that despite over 20 years of generosity feels that she still deserves yet even more financial support from Paula Deen.”
Or the fact that Deen called the woman Aunt Jemima [and probably the n-word.] But hey, we’re just saying.
SOURCE: DailyMail
