Author: Erin Carlson

It’s official: everyone has an opinion on Paula Deen, former U.S. presidents included.

Jimmy Carter, who also happens to be a close friend of the embattled celebrity chef, tells CNN that he supports Deen in her darkest hour as she struggles to resurrect her public image and rapidly imploding business empire following her N-word confession.

“Now I know Paula Deen quite well, for a long period of time, and I advised her to let the dust settle and to make apologies,” says Carter, who appeared on the news channel to promote his forthcoming human rights forum. “And she has some very beneficial human programs in Savannah, Georgia, where she lives, that benefit almost exclusively oppressed and poverty-stricken black people, African-American citizens in her own community. And I advised her to get some of those people who she’s helping every day to speak out and show that she has changed in her relationship with African-American people, with minorities in the last number of years. My heart goes out to her but of course there’s no condoning the use of a word that abuses other people.”

Deen and Carter grew up some 40 miles apart in Georgia, and Deen — who’s fighting a discrimination lawsuit brought by an ex-restaurant employee — sought the human rights activist’s insight in the fallout from a deposition released last week in which she admitted to having said the N-word in the past and discussed her desire to stage a “true Southern plantation-style” wedding.

Deen has lost many of her major sponsors in the past few days, including Home Depot, Target, Walmart, Smithfield Foods, Caesars Entertainment and QVC. Last week, The Food Network decided not to renew Deen’s contract when it expires at the end of the month.  On the flip side, sales of her upcoming cookbook are skyrocketing and there’s an uptick in demand for a pair of excursions on her Paula Deen cruise trips slated for next year. And Hoffman Media, which publishes her bimonthly magazine Cooking With Paula Deen, announced Friday that it was standing by the culinary star, saying: “The recent images portrayed by the media do not reflect the person we know on a personal or a professional level.”

Email: Erin.Carlson@THR.com

Twitter: @ErinLCarlson

Craig Blankenhorn/NBC

“Smash”

After getting the ax from NBC, erstwhile Broadway drama Smash has found a new home on the arts-focused cable channel Ovation.

Ovation announced Thursday that it will air the two-season series, which was canceled by NBC, on Fridays at 8 p.m. First season re-runs begin July 19 with second-season episodes starting in November.

The series stars Debra Messing, Megan Hilty, Christian Borle, Anjelica Huston, Katharine McPhee and Jeremy Jordan.

“Smash is exactly the kind of art-centric programming that Ovation’s viewers crave,” Robert Weiss, Ovation’s chief creative officer, said in a statement. “This high-quality series fits in brilliantly with our efforts to showcase the powerful role that the Arts play in our lives. Ovation is thrilled to satisfy the wishes of diehard Smash fans and followers to keep the series alive, as well as to provide viewers, who are new to the series, an opportunity to experience the incredible talent, music, dancing, drama and excitement.”

STORY: NBC Cancels ‘Smash’ After Two Seasons

One of NBC’s much-hyped scripted series, Smash turned out to be both a commercial and critical flop, drawing low ratings and getting bumped to Saturdays: the death knell of time slots. Despite all that, the show managed to build a cult audience of theater fans and viewers who loved to hate its erratic writing and outlandishly soapy plot.

The New York Times‘ theater critic Charles Isherwood, wrote last month, on the eve of the series finale: “For the long two years it has been appearing, Smash has been a dismaying embarrassment to those hoping a smart, funny, honest show about the machinations involved in making a Broadway musical would add some pop-culture luster to an art form – or at least a business – that most of the coveted under-49 viewers probably regard as a relic of the last century, from a time before they invented the Internets.”

Email: erin.carlson@thr.com

Twitter: @ErinLCarlson