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Paula Deen‘s sons spoke out on Tuesday in defense of their mother, who’s under fire for admitting to having said the N-word.
Deen’s sons, Bobby and Jamie Deen, who also have their own Food Network show, Road Tasted, were interviewed on CNN‘s New Day.
Both men repeatedly said their mother is not a racist and raised them in a loving, inclusive environment.
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Deen’s son Bobby said despite his mom admitting during a sworn deposition to using the N-word in the past, that’s not representative of her personality or the home in which he and his brother were raised.
“The important thing here is for people to know that that is not her heart,” Bobby said. “That was certainly not the home that we were raised in. We were raised in a family of love and of faith and a house where God lived. Neither one of our parents ever taught us to be bigoted towards any other person for any reason.”
“Frankly, I’m disgusted by the whole thing because it began as extortion and it became character assassination,” Bobby added.
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As proof of his mother’s inclusive character, Jamie Deen says his parents told him the story of baseball’s barrier-breaking Hank Aaron, including buying him a pair of pajamas featuring the slugger.
“That’s a lesson that I’ve carried with me throughout my entire life, to treat everyone with inclusion and by their character and on their own merit,” Jamie said. “Under no circumstances should you ever judge anybody for any other reason.”
Jamie also added that it was “absurd to think there’s an environment of racism” in their business.
The Food Network said Friday that it would not renew Paula Deen‘s contract when it expired at the end of this month. It’s unclear what her sons’ futures with the network are.
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