14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday on The Today Show, Matt Lauer bluntly asked TV cook Paula Deen if the only reason she’d agreed to come on was because she was bleeding money in lost endorsement deals due to the scandal around the racist comment she made.
She said no, that she wanted to do the show to put her own version of the story out there and to prove to the world that she was a kind person, not a vile racist as she was being depicted in the media.
Despite her tearful statement and her previous two, very emotional video apologies, Deen is still losing major endorsement deals.
First she was dropped by The Food Network and then by Smithfield, and word has it QVC is also considering axing her.
Today, she’s lost her deal with Walmart and Caesars, TMZ reports.
In statements released to the media, both say that they do not wish to be associated with Deen anymore because of the controversy around her use of the N-word.
“We are ending our relationship with Paula Deen Enterprises and we will not place new orders beyond those already committed,” Walmart says.
Caesars, on the other hand, has announced it will shut down all of Deen’s 4 restaurants currently operating on its properties.
“Deen has restaurants in Harrah's Tunica near Memphis, Harrah's Joliet near Chicago, Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina... and a buffet at Horseshoe Southern Indiana,” TMZ says, adding that, “Caesars says it intends to rebrand Paula's restaurants and reopen them in a couple of months.”
Admittedly, Caesars believes it’s not in “its best interest” to continue the Paula Deen collaboration.
The other day, speaking to Lauer, the TV cook said that the one time she admitted to using the N-word was the only time she ever did so, and then too in special circumstances.