It appears the old saying sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me is really only true as a children’s rhyme. We all know words can and often do harm, but now it appears words also may be powerful enough to take down Paula Deen's empire.
Food and retail companies began scrambling to distance themselves from self-described “face of Southern cooking” the moment she admitted to using a racist slur. Deen, 66, earned $17 million last year according to Forbes, which ranked her as the fourth-highest earning celebrity chef. Her controversial words make it unlikely she will keep that ranking in 2013. Here is a list of companies that have dropped Deen as well as the ones that are still standing by her.
DISTANCING THEMSELVES
- Food Network: The company quickly decided not to renew Deen’s contract, which expired at the end of June.
- Walmart severed ties with Deen in a two sentence statement: “We are ending our relationship with Paula Deen Enterprises and we will not place new orders beyond those already committed. We will work with suppliers to address existing inventories and agreements.”
- Random House’s Ballantine Books announced it will not release the October planned cookbook “Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Recipes: All Lightened Up.”
- Target, Home Depot, J.C. Penney, Sears and Walgreens have all announced they will end their business relationships with Paula Deen, ABC News reported.
- Caesars Entertainment decided not to renew Deen’s contract. The company operates Paula Deen Buffets in four of its casinos, The Huffington Post reported.
- Diabetes manufacture Novo Nordisk suspended its partnership with Deen, The Huffington Post reported.
- Smithfield Foods terminated its endorsement deal with Deen saying in statement: “Smithfield condemns the use of offensive and discriminatory language and behavior of any kind. Therefore, we are terminating our partnership with Paula Deen. Smithfield is determined to be an ethical food industry leader and it is important that our values and those of our spokespeople are properly aligned.”
UP IN THE AIR
- QVC said it has no plans to have Deen on QVC and that company is reviewing the business relationship they have with Deen.
STICKING BY HER
- Hoffman Media LLC is sticking by Deen and will continue to publish Cooking with Paula Deen. In a statement Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Hoffman said: “Hoffman Media has worked closely with Ms. Deen since 2005. The recent images portrayed by the media do not reflect the person we know on a personal or a professional level.”
The question now overtaking the media when it comes to Paula Deen is will her business recover?
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