Paula Deen Fired by Target, Home Depot and More - East Idaho News
Arts & Entertainment

Paula Deen Fired by Target, Home Depot and More

  Published at

Getty 022812 PaulaDeen?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1372359804798Serg Alexander/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The list of corporate sponsors backing away from Paula Deen continues to grow.

Target, Home Depot and diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk are the latest companies to end their relationships with the celebrity chef after she admitted to using a racial slur in the past.

The embattled TV chef, who appeared on TV Thursday to assure fans that she is not a racist, had already been dropped by Wal-Mart, Caesars Entertainment, and Smithfield Foods, a pork producer that services Deen’s restaurant. The Food Network, Deen’s television home for 13 years, also decided not to renew Deen’s contract after her remarks.

A spokesperson for Target tells ABC News Radio, “We have made a decision to phase out the Paula Deen merchandise in our stores as well as on Target.com. Once the merchandise is sold out, we will not be replenishing inventory.”

According to US Weekly, Home Depot said Wednesday that it would stop carrying Paula Deen products in its kitchen and cookware departments.

Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk also dropped Deen, 66, as a spokesperson for their diabetes drug Victoza. Deen has type-2 diabetes.

“Novo Nordisk and Paula Deen have mutually agreed to suspend our patient education activities for now, while she takes time to focus her attention where it is needed,” the company said in a statement. “Novo Nordisk would like to acknowledge Paula’s involvement in our ‘Diabetes in a New Light’ campaign, where she has helped make many people aware of type 2 diabetes and the lifestyle changes needed to control this serious disease.”

Deen was widely criticized when, in announcing her Novo Nordisk deal, she revealed she’d been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes three years earlier. High-fat, high-calorie recipes, such as those that are Deen’s trademark, have been shown to contribute to the illness.

In addition to the Target, Home Depot and Novo Nordisk announcements, Deen has written a letter to QVC customers, released publicly Thursday, in which she states that she and the network “agreed that it’s best for me to step back from QVC and focus on setting things right.”

In his own letter to customers, QVC President Mike George says the network is “troubled” by Deen’s past use of a racial slur, and that while it has had a positive relationship with her, “for now, we have decided to take a pause.” George elaborates, “Paula won’t be appearing on any upcoming broadcasts and we will phase out her product assortment on our online sales channels over the next few months.” However, George does not rule out QVC renewing ties with Deen in the future.

A spokesperson for Random House, which is publishing Deen’s upcoming book Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up, similarly told People magazine it is “monitoring the situation closely.” The book is due out in October.

The controversy was sparked by a lawsuit filed by a former employee at Deen’s Savannah, Ga., restaurants, who claims racial and sexual harassment by Deen and her brother, Bubba Hier, while working for them. Deen’s attorney denies the claims, but in a suit-related deposition in May, Deen responded “I’m sure I have” when asked if she’d also used the n-word since being robbed, adding, “but it’s been a very long time.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION