Someone Please Make Paula Stop Talking

Oh, Paula Deen. Paula, Paula, Paula. Where do I begin with you? Everyone knows what happened to Deen — she admitting to using the n-word, she was accused by her employees of being racist, her Food Network show was cancelled, and she lost many of her endorsement deals. You may have stopped following Deen after this, so you might not know that she began staging a comeback of sorts with a giant investment deal, but more as a business woman, than a public figure. That's why it makes no sense — absolutely no sense at all — why Paula Deen just compared herself to "that black football player" aka Michael Sam.

As if that doesn't sound bad enough, somehow in context it sounds even worse. Deen told People magazine, "I'm fighting to get my name back. I feel like 'embattled' or 'disgraced' will always follow my name. It's like that black football player who recently came out. He said, 'I just want to be known as a football player. I don't want to be known as a gay football player.' I know exactly what he's saying."

If the irony was lost on you, Paula Deen still didn't just call Michael Sam a "football player" she called him "that black football player." She makes it clear that she understands that Sam doesn't want gay to always be in front of his name, but still she puts black there. It's true, Sam is black. I don't think he would deny that, it's just that with Deen's recent issues, she might want to be a little more careful about what she says. It's not like she isn't allowed to mention races anymore, but in a conversation where she's pointing out that there is more to people than the words that identify them, you would think she would realize this and see that "gay football player" and "black football player" are both pretty similar descriptions.

Deen should just shy away from any race talk period. She screwed herself over on that front. If she realizes people are seeing her as "disgraced," a good step would be not doing things that remind people of the reason you are disgraced. Plus, there are literally hundreds of black football players, so that description didn't even help until she mentioned he was the one who "recently came out." Learn the dude's name!

Plus, plus, I haven't even mentioned how Paula Deen comparison is totally unfounded. Deen was forced to admit to using the n-word in court and caught being a racist. Michael Sam is a gay man who decided to come out even though the NFL has never had a openly gay player before. She was caught. He made a decision. There's no comparison. Oh, except that they both have adjectives commonly placed in front of their names and she still placed another one there for him.

Fantastic job, Paula Deen. You should put some of the money from your $75 million investment deal toward a better PR person because the most surprising thing here is no longer your ignorance, it's the fact that you're still making statements that show it.