No more Paula Deen for this kid
I don't watch the Food Network these days as much as I used to, but the other day I was flipping channels and caught a commercial Paula Deen was doing for Smithfield Foods. I didn't think anything of it and just moved on.
Well, evidently I should have thought a bit more about it, because it seems like she's shilling ham for crooked company according to our friends at DC Food Blog.
Her response, upon hearing that there have been worker abuses at Smithfield's North Carolina Tar Heel Packing Plant was this:
"If it is somehow found out down the road that Smithfield is intimidating their workers, would you ever pull your name or not be associated with the company?" Deen responds, "You know, all of us in America who work, we all have some complaints about our work. You know it's called work for a reason. It's not called play so there will always be complaints about our work place. I am not the one to solve union issues."
What do you think? Do you think statements and actions like these warrant a boycott? Do you think that Paula should step down, or do you think she's right in her thoughts on the Smithfield workers?
10 comments:
Boooooooooo Paula Dean. Yay workers rights!
Unfortunately though, if we looked at the records of all the companies celebrities endorse, there is probably a long list of workplace abuses. My sense is that Paula Dean is not the sole culprit here.
I'm sure she'll be devastated that you're no longer watching.
NOT
Smithfield is one of the worst, though. It's so bad that Human Rights Watch--who usually deal with totalitarian countries--has written reports about its North Carolina operation twice now.
I hope she backs down soon. Thanks for the post!
Thanks for bringing this to light. No more Smithfield OR precious paula for me. Its outrageous. check out smithfieldjustice.com Anna!!!
It's time those celebrities are held accountable for their despicable actions. How dare Paula say that it's called work for a reason, not play?
That's very condescending and arrogant. It goes to confirm my belief that despite her laughs and smiles (which are fake by the way), Paula will stab you in the face and still find a way to pull the victim card. What a loser she is.
hey bananas, thanks for the restaurant recommendation last week. this is unrelated to your post, but have you heard about taste of the nation next monday? i'm debating whether i should go, even though i can only sort of afford it. are you going?
I think she should definitely step down as Smithfield's spokesperson. A crappy job is a crappy job. Abuse is abuse. The two are not always synonymous. I used to love to buy Smithfield's low sodium bacon, but then I read a NYT article about how the workers were abused (overworked, horrible conditions, etc) and I stopped buying all Smithfield products.
Check out this Paula Deen/Smithfield protest song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tefawl-t2w
Paula Hyers Deen doesn't have any more sense now than she did when I went to high school with her in Albany, GA in the mid-60s. She was an airheaded cheerleader back then and she's an airheaded twit now.
Hey! I like her!
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