A) Paula Deen is a Democrat who actively campaigned for Barack Obama.
B) She made the comments 27 years ago.
C) Even Al Sharpton says she should not be judged on decades old remarks.
Via Mediaite:
MSNBC’s Touré dug into the controversy surrounding former Food Network host Paula Deen’s admission during court deposition that she had used racial slurs in the past and the fact of this admission resulting in her dismissal by her employer. Touré said that Deen has become a symbol of a racist ideology and people who continue to support her brand are admitting that they are indifferent towards racism. […]
“She’s is not an elected official, this is a lady that cooks butter sandwiches on the Food Network,” Roberts countered.
“Right, but she’s a representative now of an ideology that we thought was dead, that we hoped was dead, that some of us feared still existed in some people,” Touré disagreed. “Now she becomes a symbol. Whereas, if you continue to support the restaurants and the empire, then you are saying ‘Racism does not matter to me.’”