Paula Deen Dumps Legal Team - Exclusive
After a tumultuous few weeks for Paula Deen, a source close to the Deen family exclusively tells Entertainment Tonight that the celebrity chef has changed her entire legal team after the fallout from her admission of using a racial slur in a recorded deposition.
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Deen has hired Grace Speights from Morgan Lewis's Labor and Employment Practice to now represent her. Speights has handled many employment discrimination cases as well as claims of discrimination in public accommodations. Harry Weiss and Patty Glaser will also be on Deen’s new legal team.
Since her YouTube mea culpa on June 21, Deen's been let go by Food Network, dropped by her book publisher and watched as Target, Walmart, QVC and many others discontinued the sale of her wares.
In a June 26 interview on Today, the 66-year-old chef apologized for using racial slurs in the past. "The main reason is I'm here today, Matt, is it's important for everyone to know what I believe. ...I believe that everyone should be created equal, and that's the way I live my life. I know my love for people, and I'm not gonna sit here and tell everything I have done for people of color. I'm not gonna do it. Somebody else can tell that. I have never with any intention hurt anybody on purpose, and I never would.""