Since admitting under oath to using the “N word,” celebrity chef Paula Deen has been losing sponsorships and business partnerships seemingly every day for the past week.
Smithfield Foods dropped Deen as the face of Smithfield Hams shortly after the Food Network severed its ties to the southern chef. Walmart soon followed suit, and on Friday retailers including Sears, Walgreens, Sears, and J.C. Penny announced they will be dropping Deens products as well. Now, even Deen’s newest cookbook will become a casualty of the fallout.
Deen’s publisher, Random House, has dropped the chef, according to a New York Times report. The publisher has reportedly cancelled a five-book contract it had with Deen and will not publish her newest cookbook, Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up. The book was scheduled to be published on October 15, and had risen to the top of the Amazon bestsellers list just last week.
Deen recently appeared on the Today show, offering a tearful apology and explanation for her remarks. She followed that up with a more stoic YouTube apology, saying, “I want people to understand that my family and I are not the kinda people that the press is wanting to say we are.”
(via The New York Times)