Sears, Walgreens drop Deen
Other firms stand by celebrity chef amid racial-slur scandal
— Paula Deen just lost another business partner.
Sears Holdings Corp. said Friday it is cutting ties with the Southern celebrity chef, adding to the list of companies severing their relationship after revelations that Deen used racial slurs in the past.
Sears said Friday it decided to phase out all products tied to the brand after “careful consideration of all available information.”
“We will continue to evaluate the situation,” said Amy Diamond, a spokeswoman at the parent company of Sears and Kmart stores.
Both Sears and Kmart sold Paula Deen products.
U.S. drugstore operator Walgreens is also dropping Deen.
Mai Lee Ua, speaking for Walgreens, told Huffington Post the chain is “phasing out” its Paula Deen products in its stores and through online retailer drugstore.com.
They join Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Home Depot as retailers that plan to stop selling cookware and other items with Deen’s brand. Home Depot carried some of her products online but not in its stores.
But not everyone is abandoning Deen.
Human rights activist and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said Deen should be forgiven.
“She was maybe excessively honest in saying that she had in the past, 30 years ago, used this terrible word,” Carter told CNN Friday.
“I think she has been punished, perhaps overly severely, for her honesty in admitting it and for the use of the word in the distant past. She’s apologized profusely.”
Sandridge Food Corp., which produces deli salads, soups, desserts and other food, released a statement Wednesday announcing its support for Deen.
Several other companies are standing by the chef — for now, at least. They include Alice Travel, which books cruise ships on which she appears; New York chocolatier Landies Candies; book publisher Random House; and dairy producer Epicurean Butter, which makes her “Southern Grilling Butter.”