2:02 pm, March 6th, 2012
(GettyImages.com)
Paula Deen is at the center of a new lawsuit that accuses the celebrity cook and her brother of sexual harassment, racial slurs and violence.
In court documents, former Uncle Bubba’s Seafood and Oyster House general manager Lisa Jackson claims Deen and Bubba Hiers (the chef’s brother) engaged in “the most heinous, abusive and disreputable conduct.”
Jackson, who worked at the Savannah restaurant from 2005 to 2010, alleges that Hiers’ behavior was ”physically threatening and universally humiliating” toward her and other employees.
She claims Hiers incessantly looked at pornography in their shared office, making it “inescapable,” and lists numerous incidents of Hiers using vulgar, sexually-charged language about women, including Jackson and other employees.
The lawsuit declares that Hiers subjected Jackson to “sexually harassing conduct” “every single day” for five years, including frequent commentary about her body and the bedroom habits of other employees.
Deen is accused of fostering the environment of harassment and engaging in abusive behavior herself.
But a quote Jackson attributes to Deen during preparations for Hiers’ 2007 wedding contains the most shocking language of all.
According to the lawsuit, Deen told Jackson, “I want a true southern plantation-style wedding… What I would really like is a bunch of little n**gers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around.”
Allegedly, Deen added, “Now that would be a true southern wedding, wouldn’t it? But we can’t do that because the media would be on me about that.”
The legal documents claim Hiers also used the N-word when discussing President Obama.
Deen’s rep has said that there will be no comment on a pending legal matter.
Follow @GossipCop on Twitter!
Like us on Facebook!
