Just over two years after Paula Deen came under fire for admitting to saying the N-word during a deposition in a discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee, which caused the Food Network to not renew her contract, the American celebrity chef and cooking show host finds herself once again at the center of a race scandal.
On Tuesday her official Twitter and Facebook accounts posted a photo showing Deen and her son Bobby dressed up as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo from the TV classic I Love Lucy – with Bobby painted a dark shade of brown. The character of Ricardo is of Latino descent.
As soon as it was posted, many users complained, describing Bobby’s makeup as “brownface”. Deen has since removed the photo.
Despite being posted on Tuesday, the photo is in fact four years old, and appeared in a 2011 album of outtakes from her since-cancelled Food Network show Best Dishes.
Deen has not commented on the picture.
