Paula Deen Asked an Employee to Dress Up Like Aunt Jemima and Other New Racist Accusations

With a royal baby entering the world and another Anthony Weiner scandal, it was just starting to look like all of Paula Deen‘s troubles were over. That’s until Deen’s longtime friend Dora Charles opened up to The New York Times about what a real ass her BFF can really be.

Charles and Deen have worked side-by-side for 22 years. While Deen was the face of the brand, Charles was the real expert in the background, “develop[ing] recipes, train[ing] other cooks and ma[king] sure everything down to the collard greens tasted right.” The Times asserts that Deen herself once said of Charles, “if it’s a Southern dish, you better not put it out unless it passes this woman’s tongue.”

So, yeah, the two were close. They celebrated birthdays together and Deen wrote in her book It Ain’t All About the Cookin’, “if I lost Dora, I would have been devastated.” The following accusations, my dear readers, are not how you treat your friends. In fact, it’s not even how you treat your enemies, unless you’re a mean old racist.

• Even after Paula Deen became a Food Network star, Charles continued to make only $10 an hour working in Lady & Sons, Deen’s flagship restaurant in Savannah, Ga. Lisa T. Jackson, the Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House manager whose lawsuit started this whole fallout, alleges that Charles was making less money than other (white) employees at Deen’s restaurants who had less seniority. Charles’ pay was eventually bumped to $71,000 a year, but that happened immediately following several of Deen’s employees filing suit with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; the timing is suspect to say the least.
• Charles says Deen referred to her and to other employees using a racial slur. The Times doesn’t specify which, besides that it is “a racially offensive term for a black child.” The article notes that Deen has denied this charge, but Anthony Weiner initially blamed Al Qaeda for his sexting scandal, so who can say anything for certain?
• Charles also claims that Deen asked her to stand at the front of Lady & Sons ringing a dinner bell, “hollering for people to come and get it.” For those not familiar with the South and Southern customs (I’m from Texas) this is a reference to what would have been a house slave’s job on a traditional plantation.
• For those who like their dining experience with a twinge of racial inequity, don’t worry, Deen found someone to ring that bell. Her name is Ineata “Jellyroll” Jones. In addition to ringing the dinner bell, Jones’ job was to make the hoecakes (a traditional cornmeal pancake) which were served to each guest. In case ringing a dinner bell wasn’t enough humiliation, Deen requested that Jones wear “an old-style Aunt Jemima outfit” while doing so. Jones apparently declined.

Paula Deen is worth $17 million. Charles lives in a mobile home with a rotting floor. Certainly nothing Deen did was illegal, per se; some may even say it was just good business. However, I think we can all agree that’s just not the way you treat someone you call a friend. Are they still friends? Charles seems to think they, maybe, kind of are. But like how you’re friends with someone from high school. You’ll like a photo of their baby on Facebook, but otherwise things are just awkward and every time you go home they won’t stop asking you about riding the subway and you just can’t get over how weird it is that this person you knew at 14 was allowed to procreate.

Mrs. Charles realizes that her time with Paula Deen is over, and that she will soon leave her kitchen. But the relationship will always be there.

“I still have to be her friend if I’m God’s child,” she said. “I might feed her with a long-handled spoon, but, yeah, I’m still her friend.”

As for her motivations speaking out, Charles says, “it’s just time that everybody knows that Paula Deen don’t treat me the way they think she treat me.”

Today’s DAILY BUZZ: Jason Sudeikis Quits, Hot Heidi Klum Pics, Beyonce Vs. A Fan

• Jason Sudeikis drops an SNL employment bombshell on David Letterman
• Heidi Klum’s racy photos come from an unlikely photographer
• Beyonce gets caught up…in an industrial fan on this week’s Smirnoff Ice Absurdly Awesome Moment

The heck are you waiting for? Go check out The Daily Buzz for Thursday July 25th, 2013.

‘Glee’ Holds Private Memorial For Cory Monteith

Cory Monteith‘s Glee co-stars have been individually mourning his untimely death, but Thursday they celebrated his memory together at a private memorial.

“Today, Ryan Murphy and Lea Michele gathered the cast, crew and producers of Glee, along with colleagues from the network and studio, to share memories and music in an emotional celebration of the life of Cory Monteith,” FOX said in a statement obtained by CB!. “We thank the public for their continued outpouring of love and support as we grieve our friend and colleague during this difficult time.”

Monteith, who played high school quarterback and glee club member Finn, had been dating his on-screen love, Michele, off screen for over a year. He died of an accidental overdose involving heroin and alcohol on July 13.

Lady Gaga Will Produce a New TLC Song

You’ve seen today’s Lady Gaga news. And you’ve seen today’s TLC news. But did you know that today would also bring Lady Gaga/TLC news? When you opened your eyes this morning, reaching for that alarm clock and wondering how many cups of coffee it would take until you felt normal again, did you in your wildest dreams stop to think, I wonder if there will be some sort of Lady Gaga/TLC news today. You bet your ass you didn’t. But there is.

In a news conference today, T-Boz and Chilli announced they’ll be releasing a greatest hits album on Oct. 15. Not only will the album feature remastered versions of classics like “Waterfalls,” “Unpretty” and “No Scrubs,” it will also feature new music written by Lady Gaga and Ne-Yo. Both Drake and J-Cole will be featured in the new material.

Lady Gaga seems like an odd choice, no? I mean, she was 8 years old when “CrazySexyCool” came out. But, whatever, I’m not going to let anything get in the way of my excitement over new TLC material. And I’ll give Gaga the benefit of the doubt on this one.

As for those rumors that TLC would be going on tour with a hologram of Left Eye, the group’s third member who died in a car crash in 2002? Chilli says it’s probably not happening.

“I don’t even know how that got out. It’s definitely something we thought about, like years ago. But I think it’s very creepy. We’re still in the creative process in figuring out how we’re going to involve Lisa [Left Eye] and stuff like that.”

TLC will be performing for the first time in years this weekend at the Mixtape Festival in Hershey, Penn. There, Lil Mama (who plays Left Eye in the VH1 biopic) will be filling in.

Fulham v Arsenal: Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Prediction

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The first London derby of the 2013-14 season sees the clash of two Cockney rivals who’ve had contrasting fortunes in this summer’s transfer window, and contrasting opening-day results as well.

Fulham ground out a fine 0-1 victory up in the North-East against Sunderland, and their successful start will probably ensure an unchanged back-line. Scott Parker, just purchased from Tottenham, will more than likely start in the centre of the park, while Taarabt and last week’s goalscorer Pajtim Kasami will provide support to Berbatov up front. Darren Bent could also start; if he does, he’s likely to take the place of either of the 3 forwards, the most likely being new man Adel Taarabt. Don’t rule out Pajtim Kasami coming off early if he fails to produce the goods either.

Martin Jol has bought cleverly in the transfer market this summer, and the squad are looking uncharacteristically strong offensively and defensively. There’s also a new depth to the side not seen in recent years, and hopes of a Top 10 finish look within their grasp this year

Arsenal have had a mixed week. A 1-3 reverse to Aston Villa at home last week, combined with another summer without spending prompted an Arsenal fans group to write to the Arsenal board calling for Ars ne Wenger’s tenure to come to an end. Since then, a 3-0 win at Fenerbache, and assurances that new signings were in the pipeline have quelled the unrest somewhat.

Injuries to key midfielders Abou Diaby, Mikel Arteta, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have limited Arsenal’s midfield options, and the side is likely to be reasonably similar to the outfit that defeated Fenerbache so easily on Wednesday night. Mattieu Flamini could come onto the bench if his transfer comes through in time, and Olivier Giroud will start up front, having impressed in Turkey. Thomas Vermaelen is unlikely to be back in time for the clash, and Laurent Koscielny is serving a suspension following his dismissal last weekend.

Fulham are strong, and are likely to give it their all, but Arsenal have a touch of class with Wilshere, Walcott and Ramsey that should see them over the line at Craven Cottage. But only just.

Scoreline Prediction: FUL 1-2 ARS

Predicted Line-Ups

Fulham (4-3-3): Stockdale; Reither, Hughes, Hangeland, Briggs; Duff, Boateng, Parker, Taarabt; Kasami; Berbatov

Arsenal (4-5-1) : Szczesny; Jenkinson, Sagna, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Ramsey, Wilshere; Walcott, Rosicky, Cazorla; Giroud

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8 Widespread Movie “Facts” That Are Totally Untrue

Movie fans will often find themselves exposed to the same pieces of information or trivia over and over again, to the point where things we’ve never actually looked up for ourselves or officially confirmed become fully-fledged facts. You believe them “just ’cause.” This isn’t entirely our fault, because most of the time we just want to believe things because they sound cool, and there’s no real reason to doubt the person telling us: I mean, why would they make it up?

In actuality, there are tons of movie-based “facts” out there that have been circulating for years, none of which are grounded in any truth at all. And who knows how these things start? A misquote somewhere, a piece of information taken out of context, somebody getting something wrong by accident… the possibilities that give rise to such instances are presumably endless. But by the time they’re ingrained into movie culture, it’s near-on impossible to phase them out.

Take the 8 widespread movie facts that I’ve gathered for inclusion on this list, then, all of which you’ve probably heard from somebody or have even passed on a one point (I know I have), on the basis that they’re famous or well-known movie facts. In reality, not a single one of these facts are true at all, and have been exacerbated, fabricated or – in some cases – conjured up out of thin air. I think it’s time we put these little b*stards to bed once and for all…

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6 Reasons Why Living In The Harry Potter Universe Would Suck

Practically every Harry Potter fan has thought about what it would be like to suddenly find an owl at your house carrying a Hogwarts acceptance letter (I may be twenty years old but I can still dream, damn it!). The Harry Potter universe is pure fictional awesomeness where anything is possible and all of your wildest dreams can come true. But so can your worst nightmares.

Because when you think about it, the Harry Potter universe would be kind of a crappy place to live in. Yes being a wizard would be amazing but behind all of the Butterbeer, charms lessons, and Quidditch, there’s a lot wrong with the wizarding world that should make you think twice about heading to Platform 9 …

6. The Flawed Banking System

I bet you’re about to label me as obsessive and pedantic for discussing Harry Potter’s finacial system (Which I am) but it’s actually pretty disturbing and ill-thought out when you consider it. Gringotts is basically the wizards’ equivalent of the Bank of England except it’s run by goblins and takes protecting people’s valuables incredibly seriously. You won’t catch Gringotts losing loads of other people’s gold on bad investments.

Although protecting the wealth of practically an entire country is important, the defences of the maximum security vaults at Gringotts take things just a little bit too far. Rather than simply sticking with the rollercoaster-style carts (which really needs to become a theme park ride) that are likely to make you throw up and doors that only Gringotts goblins can open, everything stored inside a maximum security vault is enchanted with Gemino (a spell which replicates something) and Flagrante (a spell that makes something burn when you touch it) curses. So if you do manage to somehow break into a maximum security vault, the second you try to nick anything, you’ll get crushed to death by hundreds of worthless burning copies of whatever you try to steal. And the vaults are only checked to see if anybody is in there every ten years so it would be a while before your crushed and blistered corpse was found.

Outside of the vaults, Gringotts’ lower levels are guarded by dragons that are chained up on a permanent basis, have been partially blinded to make them more savage, and have been repeatedly attacked with burning hot swords in a Pavlovian procedure that makes them scared of loud noises, allowing Gringotts employees and customers to get past them with certain equipment. If the RSPCA existed in the Harry Potter universe, its members would have aneurisms after visiting Gringotts.

Another flaw with wizard banking is that the goblins are in charge of it. Not only are goblins pretty bloodthirsty (as their security measures show) and hate wizards thanks to the huge number of wars between the two species and the law that makes it illegal for goblins to carry wands, but they also have a completely different sense of ownership to wizards.

The goblin philosophy is that the true owner of an object is its creator and that if somebody inherits a goblin-made object (which includes all wizard currency), they have to pay for it again. So all it would really take is for one goblin to say “To hell with this. Let’s take back what’s ours” and British wizards can kiss their money goodbye. Especially since, as Bill Weasley tells Harry, “there is a belief among some goblins, and those at Gringotts are perhaps most prone to it, that wizards cannot be trusted in matters of gold and treasure”. Well done, wizards of Britain. You’ve entrusted the safeguarding of all your money to a race that hates you and doesn’t trust you with it.

And finally, since there is never any mention of any other wizard bank in the UK, it’s fair to assume the wealth of the whole wizard population of the UK is kept within one location. The wizarding population are putting all of their eggs into one basket. A shockingly well defended basket but still one basket.

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10 Strangest Oscar Nominations Of The Past 15 Years

The Academy of Motion Pictures is known for making poor decisions. Far too often they nominate movies for Oscars to appease the masses instead of rewarding movies that actually had an impact. They base many of their decisions on what they think people enjoyed and not necessarily which movies deserved the credit.

In recent years The Oscars have become glorified People’s Choice awards. Makeup artists who slap fat suits on mediocre actors have been nominated over truly talented movie make up. Big explosions have been an easy in for “Best Visuals,” trumping actually visually pleasing movies (Michael Bay, I’m looking at you).

Many people felt this year’s Academy Awards were particularly Hollywood biased – there was not even a whisper of Marion Cotillard’s great acting/directing for Rust and Bone. Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck were both overlooked for Director and of course Leo DiCaprio got snubbed for his outstanding work in Django Unchained.

So in honour of the Academy’s annual insanity I’ve put together a list of all the nominations in the past fifteen years that I felt were out of place or strange. In truth some of these are just strange coincidences but more often than not they are just plain wrong…

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10 Famous People You Didn’t Know Played Bit Parts On Seinfeld

It’s pretty common knowledge that “Seinfeld” is perhaps the greatest sitcom in television history. Over the course of 9 seasons, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer showed us that four seriously self-absorbed friends can be the funniest people we’ve ever known. A show about nothing and everything all at once, “Seinfeld” is and forever shall be a cultural phenomenon.

One thing that’s interesting about “Seinfeld” is that no matter how many times you watch it, you always find something new to appreciate. Since the stories of each episode were so ordinary (waiting to be seated at a Chinese restaurant, looking for a car in a labyrinthine parking garage) they always connected with the personal lives of the audience. As you got older, you’d have more experiences, and therefore would be able to relate to yet another episode of the show. Since “Seinfeld” is still shown regularly on multiple channels, you’ve got plenty of chances to make these connections.

Another benefit of “Seinfeld’s” syndication is that you can always spot someone famous in a rather small role. Most actors that appear in these supporting parts are just getting their careers off the ground, so you’d never recognize them then. For instance, when Bryan Cranston was on five episodes of “Seinfeld” as the dentist Tim Whatley, nobody knew who he was. But watching a rerun now, people say “Oh my God! That’s Walter White from ‘Breaking Bad’!”

“Seinfeld” played host to dozens of now-famous stars during its tenure. Buzzfeed actually put together a pretty solid list already of 34 recognizable actors from the show. But believe it or not, there are still a good deal of people they left out! These are some of those people.

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WWE: 6 Best Gimmicks In Wrestling Today

A wrestlers’ gimmick can ruin their career or shoot them into superstardom (just ask Michael McGillicutty, now known as Curtis Axel). A great gimmick can set you apart from the rest of the pack. It’s what makes you a fan favorite or the guy that everyone loves to hate. Either way, as long as you’re getting a reaction, then you’re doing your job.

When you really think about wrestling’s current state, there aren’t too many gimmicks that stand out more than others. Take Goldberg, I mean Ryback, as an example. What’s so special about his gimmick? NOTHING. He’s a bully, and a bad one at that.

Mark Henry is known as the ‘World’s strongest man’ but is he really? Of course he’s not anymore, but he still has the same moniker. Why? Because it’s easy to stick with what you know. No one likes change. Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually a big fan of Henry but his gimmick isn’t anything special, HE is.

Every member of The Shield is a champion but is their gimmick great? They’re bullies that cut bland promos and attack as one. Is that anything special or exciting? Ehhh, not anymore.

I could go on and on about guys that fall in the same category as Ryback, Henry and The Shield but it’s not their fault, it’s just how the current state of wrestling is. Gimmicks were king in the 80 s and 90 s. Now, not so much. But there still are some awesome gimmicks out there that deserve some props and that’s why you’re reading this. To support the great ones (no pun intended).

So let’s get started with the 6 best gimmicks in wrestling today…

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