Four More Partners Drop Scandal-Stricken Chef Paula Deen

By Gilbert Falso :: 6:44 PM

While Paula Deen’s empire was reeling from being dropped by Wal-Mart and Caesars Entertainment Corporation yesterday, the hits just kept on coming today, with Target, Home Depot, QVC, and drug company Novo Nordisk all dropping their partnerships with the chef.

The dropped partnerships and sponsorships are happening just a week after Deen admitted publicly to using some racial epithets in the past, yet claimed that she was not a racist person.

Home Depot and Target had been selling Deen-branded cookware and kitchen merchandise, but will no longer place any orders for Deen’s merchandise. Any stock still on store shelves will be sold until it is depleted.

As for the QVC shopping television channel, “Paula won’t be appearing on any upcoming broadcasts and we will phase out her product assortment on our online sales channels over the next few months,” said QVC’s president Mike George.

The fourth hit today came from drugmaker Novo Nordisk, who Deen had been working with as a spokesperson for a diabetes medicine and Novo Nordisk’s “Diabetes in a New Light” educational campaign.

While the Home Depot and Target decisions appear to be final, there was language in both the QVC and Novo Nordisk statements that may allow for Deen to partner with the companies again.