So? Paula Deen was a role-model for chefs and cooks. She had her own shows on a national cable network that is watched by all races of America. She is held to a higher standard than a rapper, whose animated persona are categorically exaggerated fantasies. Comparing rappers to nationally recognized chefs is ridiculous.
Paula Deen's brand brings in money from all demographics; her target audience is all demographics. So, when she uses offensive words as such an influential figure, it puts her employers in bad business positions. She is a white woman, and has no business using a word that is a byword to 35,000,000+ people in the States. Sure, there is freedom of speech, but what people forget is that freedom of speech still has consequences. The consequence of her using an ignorant and bigoted word was a loss of job and endorsements. It happens all the time to public figures for far less than using the N-word.
Now, Dead Prez is a duo of black men. Black people using a word that means so much pain in their history is their business. I don't agree with using such words, but I understand how and why black people use it in the way they do. It is about marginalizing its painful power by making it a cliche. It is the same principle behind women calling each other "female dogs." The female dog word, when said by a male or someone with malicious intentions is hurtful. Calling friends and acquaintances "female dogs" as a woman marginalizes its power. Another example would be homosexual men calling each other "queens" or "the word for a cigarette in the UK."
