Wendy Williams on Paula Deen's Use of Racial Slur

Wendy Williams on Paula Deen's Use of Racial Slur

Talk show host Wendy Williams spoke to ET regarding celebrity chef Paula Deen having said in a deposition that she has used the N-word in the past.

"This is something that has been swirling around about Paula Deen for longer than this story. It's just a shame to hear that she has admitted in her deposition that she uses the word," Williams said, going on to say, "She seems to think that it's okay. It's not okay. It just goes to show you money doesn't buy you class, it only exposes who you really are. Stupid is as stupid does."

Williams continued: "She said a lot of ignorant things and a lot of very revealing things about who she is when she's out of the kitchen."

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Deen recently admitted in a deposition for a discrimination lawsuit filed by an employee of her restaurant that she has used racial slurs in the past. An attorney for Lisa Jackson -- a former manager at Deen's Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House in Savannah, GA -- asked the 66-year-old Food Network star during the deposition whether she had ever used the N-word. "Yes, of course," Deen replied, but she added: "It's been a very long time."

Jackson sued Deen last year, alleging that she was sexually harassed on the job and worked in a hostile environment rife with innuendo and racial slurs. The celebrity chef's attorney, William Franklin, said in a statement that Deen was looking forward to her day in court. "Contrary to media reports, Ms. Deen does not condone or find the use of racial epithets acceptable."

Deen testified that she may have also used the slur when recalling conversations between black employees at her restaurants, but said she couldn't recall specifics. "But that's just not a word that we use as time has gone on," she said. "Things have changed since the '60s in the South. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior. As well as I do."

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