What the hell, Paula Deen?

I might have to make “What the Hell…?” a regular feature here at the Conversation, especially if Joe Biden pipes up again.  Our second installment finds celeb chef Paula Deen facing a million-dollar lawsuit from one of her former employees.  During a deposition, the New York Post reports Deen was asked if she ever used a certain word that begins with “N”, and it’s not “nutmeg.”  

“Yes, of course,” Deen replied when a lawyer, during a three-hour deposition, asked if she had ever said the word n—-r.

She said she had used the word under various circumstances, but had not said it in “a very long time.”

Deen also reportedly admitted telling racist jokes. “Most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, black folks,” Deen said.

A rep said yesterday in a statement, “Ms. Deen does not condone or find the use of racial epithets acceptable.”

Who does she think she is?  A rap singer?  Quentin Tarantino?

My Polish relatives would be very disappointed to hear that most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, and black folks, having long prided themselves on their vast inventory of Polish jokes.

The Post article is accompanied by a photo that makes me think of Lon Chaney’s famed remark that it would be terrifying to open your door at midnight, and find a clown standing there in the moonlight.  I’ll see you and raise you Paula Deen standing there in the moonlight with that expression on her face, Mr. Chaney.