Paula Deen’s sons defend their mother on CNN

Paula Deen may be losing friends rapidly in the wake of her scandal involving her admitted use of racial epithets in her past, but her sons are still proudly standing beside her.

Bobby and Jamie Deen, who are also TV chefs, appeared on the new CNN morning show, “New Day,” to defend their mother, who has lost her Food Network contract and a prominent sponsor in the wake of the revelations. Deen’s history with race came to light through a court deposition related to a lawsuit against her and her brother alleging sexual and racial harassment at her restaurant company in Georgia.

“I’m disgusted by the entire thing, because it began as extortion and it has become character assassination,” Bobby Deen told CNN host Chris Cuomo in the exclusive interview that aired Tuesday.

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“The important thing is for people to know that is not her heart,” he said. “It’s certainly not the home that we were raised in. We were raised in a family of love, of faith, in a house where God lived. Neither one of our parents ever taught us to be bigoted toward another person for any reason.”

Jamie Deen told a story of how his parents gave him pajamas featuring his sports hero Hank Aaron when he was 7 years old and that they explained the challenges the baseball icon faced because of the color of his skin.

Mama Deen, meanwhile, is due to make an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday to talk about the scandal with Matt Lauer. She had been scheduled to appear on the show last week but canceled on the day she lost her Food Network contract.

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