--- title: Paula Deen Fires Social Media Manager After Controversial Tweet description: The photo featured Deen's son wearing brown face makeup as a character from 'I Love Lucy' canonical: https://time.com/3949255/paula-deen-twitter-brownface-photo/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-08T13:40:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:21:52.980Z og:title: Paula Deen Fires Aide After Controversial Brownface Photo og:description: The photo featured Deen's son wearing brown face makeup as a character from 'I Love Lucy' og:url: https://time.com/3949255/paula-deen-twitter-brownface-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd91d24eadac80b01/69885a04524fc0e971df3751/paula-deen-bobby.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: paula bobby deen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paula Deen Fires Aide After Controversial Brownface Photo twitter:description: The photo featured Deen's son wearing brown face makeup as a character from 'I Love Lucy' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd91d24eadac80b01/69885a04524fc0e971df3751/paula-deen-bobby.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paula Deen Fires Aide After Controversial Brownface Photo by [Amanda Michelle Steiner / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Amanda Michelle Steiner / Entertainment Weekly Jul 8, 2015 1:40 PM UTC  Chefs Bobby Deen and Paula Deen pose backstage during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival at Pier 94 on October 19, 2014 in New York City. Chefs Bobby Deen and Paula Deen pose backstage during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival at Pier 94 on October 19, 2014 in New York City.Larry Busacca—Getty Images by [Amanda Michelle Steiner / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Amanda Michelle Steiner / Entertainment Weekly Jul 8, 2015 1:40 PM UTC [Paula Deen](http://www.ew.com/topic/paula-deen) has fired the social media manager responsible for tweeting a photo of Deen’s son, Bobby, dressed as Ricky from _I Love Lucy_. The photo – from a 2011 Halloween episode of _Paula’s Best Dishes_ – was criticized for being racially insensitive due to Bobby’s brown face makeup and was promptly deleted. (The caption read, “Lucyyyyyyy! You got a lot of esplainin’ to do! #TransformationTuesday @BobbyDean.”) “Paula immediately had this picture taken down as soon as she saw the post and apologizes to all who were offended,” says a rep for the celebrity chef in a statement to EW. “As such, Paula Deen Ventures has terminated their relationship with this social media manager.” The photo was shot two years before Deen, now 68, was taken to court by a former restaurant manager who accused the TV chef of a hostile work environment “rife with innuendo and racial slurs,” [the Associated Press reported at the time](http://www.ew.com/article/2013/06/20/paula-deen-lawsuit). During the ensuing deposition, Deen admitted to using the N-word. The Food Network dropped Deen soon after the controversy. However, she is now [the host of the Paula Deen Channel](http://www.ew.com/article/2014/06/11/paula-deen-network) on Roku,[the tagline for which reads](http://start.pauladeen.com/roku/), “I’m back on your TV, y’all!” _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/07/paula-deen-son-brownface-tweet) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3949255/paula-deen-twitter-brownface-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3949255/paula-deen-twitter-brownface-photo/"},"headline":"Paula Deen Fires Aide After Controversial Brownface Photo","datePublished":"2015-07-08T13:40:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:21:52.980Z","description":"The photo featured Deen's son wearing brown face makeup as a character from I Love Lucy","url":"https://time.com/3949255/paula-deen-twitter-brownface-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","twitter","Paula Deen","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd91d24eadac80b01/69885a04524fc0e971df3751/paula-deen-bobby.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda Michelle Steiner / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd91d24eadac80b01/69885a04524fc0e971df3751/paula-deen-bobby.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"paula bobby deen","caption":"paula bobby deen","creditText":"Larry Busacca—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3949255/paula-deen-twitter-brownface-photo/","name":"Paula Deen Fires Aide After Controversial Brownface Photo"}}]}] ```