#PaulasBestDishes goes viral after Paula Deen racism controversy

Following a report that Paula Deen has used the N-word repeatedly, likes to tell racist jokes, and once proposed using black waiters dressed as slaves at a wedding, the hashtag #PaulasBestDishes was trending on Twitter.

Inspired by her Food Network program of the same name, the hashtag combines references to America’s troubled history of race relations with examples of the sugary, butter-laden, deep-fried cuisine for which Deen is notorious.

It started when TheRoot.com editor Tracy Clayton, who uses the inspired Twitter handle @brokeymcpoverty, expressed surprise that there wasn’t a Deen-inspired hashtag yet.

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That’s when Twitter user Pope Jeffuhz I tweeted “Separate But Equal Light & Dark Meat,” using the hashtag #PaulasBestDishes. By Wednesday afternoon, #PaulasBestDishes was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter.

The trend exploded on Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the freeing of the last American slaves in Texas in 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

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