Add another tally mark to the list of losses celebrity chef Paula Deen has been racking up this week. After getting the ax from the Food Network, restaurant deals, and Wal-mart, her own publisher has now turned their backs on her, despite her cookbook being the top-seller on Amazon.
According to E! News, Ballantine Books announced Friday (June 28) that the publication of Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up has been cancelled.
The 488-page recipe book, originally due Oct. 15, shot to the top of the Amazon charts in lieu of the former Food Network star’s racial slur scandal. “Customers will be notified that the publisher has cancelled this book. As the case with all Amazon.com pre-orders, customers’ credit cards are not charged until the book is shipped/delivered,” an Amazon.com rep tells E!.
After Deen admitted that she had used the N-word in a video deposition as part of a $1.2 million lawsuit issued by a former employee, business for the cook has bust. Other nationwide retailers like Sears, Walgreens and JCPenny have all cut the chord on selling Deen merchandise while Target plans to phase her stock out and QVC has hit pause on their dealings with her.
She recently made a teary-eyed appearance on the TODAY show, slamming the “horrible lies” being spread about her. “I’ve had to hold friends in my arms while they’ve sobbed,” Deen said. “Because they know what’s being said about me – it’s not true. And I’m having to comfort them, and tell them it’s going to be all right. If God got us to it, he’ll get us through it.”
At least one person has offered their shoulder to the food business magnate in the midst of the mess: Stacey Dash.