Paula Deen’s cook confirms racism, claims staffers asked to wear Aunt Jemima costume

The Paula Deen controversy has been out of the news for a few days, but that’s changed with a shocking new profile on Dora Charles, Deen’s cook for 22 years.

Charles spoke with The New York Times in a story that confirms that Deen’s racism extended far beyond using the n-word once. She claims that Deen called her the ‘black cook’ even before Deen became famous and that she always paid her black staffers less than white staffers. But that’s just the start.

Charles, who says she helped Deen create recipes and train cooks to work for Deen, says that Deen once asked her to ring a bell at her restaurant and tell customers to ‘come and get it.’ That made Charles uncomfortable.

“I said, ‘I’m not ringing no bell,’” Charles recalled. “That’s a symbol to me of what we used to do back in the day.”

“It’s just time that everybody knows that Paula Deen don’t treat me the way they think she treat me,” Charles, 59, told the Times. She still lives in Savannah, Georgia, but in an aging trailer home.

Charles told a story about Ineata Jones, who also worked for Deen and a friend of Charles’. Jones specialized in pancakes and Deen made an effort to make it so that customers could watch her make them. Plus, Charles and other employees claim that Deen asked Jones to dress like Aunt Jemima. “Jellyroll didn’t want to hear that...She didn’t want to do that,” Charles said.

Deen’s reps told the Times that Charles’ accusations are false. “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,” the statement reads, adding that Deen helped Charles “through the many ups and downs” of her life.

Deen is still trying to rebuild her empire after her deposition in a lawsuit from another employee surfaced. She appeared on the Today Show on July 26, claiming that she is not racist and that she only used the n-word once in her entire life.

image: NBC

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