14 DAY TRIAL // Just when you thought Paula Deen was out of crisis mode after the recent racially-charged controversy, her cook, who has been with her for 22 years and, as it happens, is African-American, has agreed to speak with the New York Times and, in the process, paint a very unfavorable picture of the celebrity cook.
Dora Charles is now living out of a trailer, has a bad shoulder, and is more than aware that her time with Ms. Deen is limited.
She describes her as her “soul sister” and says that, while she’s upset that Deen never kept her promise that they would get rich together, she’s not out to destroy her with her account. However, she does want her story to be out there.
Mrs. Charles says that she heard Paula use racist words in reference to other employees, back in the day when they first started at Lady & Sons, the restaurant that put Deen on the map.
She claims that, also then, Deen hired another black cook, Ineata Jones, asking her to dress up as Aunt Jemima and stand in front of the restaurant to ring a bell and get the people to come in.
Initially though, Paula asked Mrs. Charles to do that.
“I said, ‘I’m not ringing no bell.’ That’s a symbol to me of what we used to do back in the day,” she says she told her employer and “soul sister.”
“It’s just time that everybody knows that Paula Deen don’t treat me the way they think she treat me,” Charles continues.
In a statement to the same media outlet, attorneys for Ms. Deen insist that Charles is only coming out of the woodwork now because she’s looking for a quick buck, hoping she’ll be paid off because of the aforementioned controversy.
“Fundamentally Dora’s complaint is not about race but about money. It is about an employee that despite over 20 years of generosity feels that she still deserves yet even more financial support from Paula Deen,” they say.
“[Deen] provided guidance and support through the many ups and downs of Mrs. Charles’s life,” the attorneys note.