Hollywood pariah Paula Deen turned down a Dancing With The Stars gig, shunning one of the few names willing to work with her after her racism scandal.
Since Paula Deen’s “racist deposition” was reported weeks ago, news about the celeb chef has been of the unpleasant for her variety.
First Deen was dumped by Food Network, and in the aftermath, loads of companies severed ties with her once lucrative cooking empire.
While Dancing With The Stars was willing to extend a helping hand (that Deen didn’t accept), Walmart, Smithfield Ham, and other companies publicly distanced themselves from the chef in statements and business breakups.
Then Deen’s upcoming cookbook shot to the top of the Amazon charts… before the publisher decided to cancel the tome and refund all that money.
Deen was also publicly chided by Oprah — who, at least at one time, had the power to make or break a career with a single utterance. Oprah seemed to hint at Deen in part when she said that no one who uses the n-word can be her friend, but she later admitted to reaching out (unsuccessfully) to the beleaguered chef:
“In the very first days I tried to reach her, and then I decided to stay out of it as I saw it blowing up… In time she will be fine. For me, it all just felt kind of sad.”
The Big O had earlier admitted she can’t stand the word due to the number of people she says heard it before dying while hanging from trees, but she also says no one has the cojones to say that word to Oprah :
“Nobody in their right mind is going to call me the N-word. You know, you see those fools on Twitter sometime say ridiculous things. But nobody in their right mind is going to do that to my face, because true racism is being able to have power over somebody else… So that doesn’t happen to me that way.”
While Paula Deen’s DWTS gig isn’t happening, the star didn’t rag on the reality show — a rep simply said the “dance floor is not the appropriate forum for her.”