Paula Deen’s son appears in brownface, has some explaining to do

Paula Deen has a short memory.

Less than a year after Deen told the Today Show’s Matt Lauer she had “learned her lesson” after being dropped from the Food Network over a racial discrimination scandal, she is facing another controversy.

Today, the disgraced celebrity chef posted a photo of her son Bobby in brownface to Twitter. Dressed as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the tweet read, “Lucyyyyyyy! You got a lot of esplainin’ to do!” and included the hashtag ‪#TransformationTuesday.

Twitter users reacted with outrage to the photo, which has since been removed. But not before being preserved forever in Internet amber!

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“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,” explained her rep to E! News hours after the photo was taken down. “This photograph is from a Halloween episode of Paula’s Best Dishes that aired in 2011.”

Deen has since apologized — and fired her social media manager — but not before the damage was done.

Some pointed out her past offenses:

While others related her racism to her cooking:

Legitimate questions were raised about her public relations strategy:

Some interesting theories were floated on the fate of famed Paulas:

And mostly, the people of Twitter think Deen has things backwards:

 

https://digiday.com/?p=124736

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