With cookbooks, home goods and her own Food Network series, Paula Deen was a kitchen superstar in the early 2000s. The Southern chef who never met a stick of butter she didn’t like was on top of the world until 2013, when she admitted in court to using the N-word, and got herself “canceled” before there was even a name for it. Now, in a new documentary, Deen’s lawyer does his best to defend his client, arguing that her testimony was taken out of context.
“Canceled: The Paula Deen Story” premiered this weekend at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The film, which examines Deen’s rise and fall, includes interviews with the disgraced Food Network star, her family and friends, and her lawyer, Bill Glass. At the center of the story is the moment Deen fell out of favor with Food Network and her retail partners – a 2013 lawsuit filed by a former employee at one of her Georgia restaurants accusing Deen and her brother of racial bias and sexual harassment. The case was ultimately settled out of court, but it was Deen’s own words during her deposition that led to her undoing.
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When asked in court if she’d ever used the N-word, Deen replied, “Yes, of course.”
In “Canceled,” her lawyer said he took issue with the question, saying it wasn’t focused on the facts of the case.
“If anybody brings any sense to her comments and heard her answer and understood the context, they should not take any issue with it,” Glass said in the film.
Deen agreed, justifying her use of the N-word by saying she only used it when describing being a victim of a 1987 armed robbery by a Black man to her husband. Because it only counts when you say it in public, right?
But Black people don’t seem to be buying what she’s selling. Most of the conversation from Black people on social media echoes a post from Mr. Christopher, who said Black people expect nothing less from someone who fits Deen’s profile.
“If you grew up in the South, you expect most White women (especially of her generation) to be like Paula Deen, and many won’t disappoint you,” he wrote on X. “Southern Black folks weren’t surprised one bit— [it] wasn’t a revelation, it was a confirmation.”
Others online think the timing of the Deen documentary release is just trying to seize on this moment in politics.
“Paula saw Trump get back into office and said, it’s my time!” wrote another X user.
But for the most part, folks just interested in a Paula Deen comeback story right now.
“She can go home and bath in her butter. Nobody cares about her,” wrote someone on X.
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