Publisher scraps Paula Deen's top-selling cookbook before release

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An upcoming book of recipes by disgraced celebrity chef Paula Deen that shot to the top of online bookseller Amazon's best-sellers list has been canceled, the publisher said on Friday, adding to the fallout from Deen's use of a racial slur.

"After careful consideration, Ballantine Books has made the difficult decision to cancel the publication, 'Paula Deen's New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up,'" the publisher said in a statement.

Ballantine declined to elaborate on its decision to scrap the book by Deen, considered the queen of Southern cooking.

Orders of the book, which was scheduled for an October release, will not be fulfilled, the imprint of Bertelsmann SE's Random House said, adding that the cookbook of lighter Southern cuisine had not gone to press.

Deen, 66, who had a multimillion-dollar enterprise built on books, restaurants, television shows and housewares, has lost about a dozen business deals after a deposition surfaced last week in which the TV chef admitted to using the "N-word."

The controversy pushed pre-order sales of her forthcoming cookbook to the top of Amazon's best-sellers list and copies of 2011's "Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible," which was published by CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc, is No. 2 on the list.

"Paula Deen's New Testament" was going to be the first book in a two-book deal with Ballantine.

Pharmacy chain Walgreens, department store JC Penney and Sears Holdings Corp, which owns department store Sears and discount retailer Kmart, all said on Friday they planned to discontinue Deen's product lines.

Scripps Networks Interactive Inc's cable TV channel the Food Network, which aired Deen's cooking shows, was the first to drop Deen last week.

A number of companies have severed ties with the chef, including Caesars Entertainment Corp, which operated Deen-branded restaurants; retailers Target Corp and Wal-Mart Stores Inc; and Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk A/S, which used Deen as a pitchwoman.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Mary Milliken and Eric Beech)

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Paula Deen's Cruises SURGE In Popularity After Racism Scandal

Not everyone is turned off by chef Paula Deen's recently publicized admission that she has used racial slurs.

Despite a backlash that involved her being fired from the Food Network, getting ditched by Smithfield Foods Inc. and potentially blacklisted by other one-time sponsors, interest in Deen's annual Paula Deen Cruise has been so great that its organizer has added an extra departure for 2014.

A representative for the cruise organizer, Alice Travel, backed Deen in an interview with the FOX411 blog. "It’s always an amazing time with Paula, her family and fans. If she goes ?- we go," said the rep.

The Huffington Post reached out to Alice Travel representative Julie Goodman Cook, who revealed that about 500 people attend each cruise. "We are expecting that number to increase," she said. (Deen's first cruise with Alice Travel set sail in 2010. Prior to this, she used different agencies.)

Next year's cruises with Deen include an eight-day voyage beginning Jan. 18 on Celebrity Reflection, Celebrity Cruises' newest ship. A summertime cruise -- recently added by Alice Travel to accomodate increased demand -- will take place on a Royal Caribbean vessel, either Oasis or Allure of the Seas.

Deen is not associated with any cruise line, Goodman Cook noted. Alice Travel books rooms in a section of the ship, and Deen's events are inaccessible to other cruise patrons.

Goodman Cook said previous Deen cruises have attracted a diverse bunch. "We have a group of gay people who go," she said. "There are people in their 90s that go. ... Black, white. I mean everything. Everyone enjoys it." A number of families have already signed up for the summer cruise, Goodman Cook said. In 2010, Paula Deen Cruises hosted a boy through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Past onboard activities include cooking demos led by Deen and her family, photo sessions, pajama parties, cocktail parties and barbecues. Deen also participates in a summer camp-style event aptly called the "Deen family Olympics," which involves G-rated activities like balloon-popping and stringing yarn through teammates' shirts.

Last year, the cruise price started at $1,440 per person for an inside cabin, based on double occupancy.

Goodman Cook said that she had not spoken to Deen since the scandal, but had been in contact with Deen's bodyguard and assistant. They relayed that Deen hopes her Wednesday appearance on the "Today" show will help assuage some of the damage to her reputation.

"Everyone is just keeping a positive outlook on the future," said Goodman Cook. "There will be better understanding about how things were taken out of context."

The Paula Deen Cruise, though, doesn't have a perfect track record itself. In January, Deen's assistant, Brandon Branch, posted questionable Tweets about a trip that set sail Jan. 27. "This is a floating nursing home!!!!" Branch wrote.

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Don McNay: Why Did Paula Deen's Legal Team Let Her Testify?

"Everybody's got a secret sonny
Yeah, something that they just can't face
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it
They carry it with them every step that they take"

-Bruce Springsteen

I can't imagine that Paula Deen and her legal team were blindsided by the line of questioning from Lisa Jackson's lawyer.

Jackson is suing Deen and her brother Bubba for creating a hostile work environment. In her amended complaint to file the lawsuit, Jackson said that she had suffered from "violent, sexist and racist behavior." It alleged that "racially discriminatory attitudes" were present. Although the allegations were primarily aimed at Bubba, it noted that "Paula Deen holds such racist views herself."

Paula's legal team flunked Risk Management 101. When they allowed Paula to give her deposition, they had to realize that the testimony would not be limited to her recipe for peanut butter pie.

The deposition process allowed the ugliest allegations to get on the record and in the public domain. They destroyed Paula's multimillion dollar business empire.

All from a lawsuit that should have been settled.

As a settlement planner and licensed claims adjuster, I've been involved in thousands of legal negotiations.

From a risk management standpoint, the Deen lawsuit was a no brainer. The worst Paula and her insurance carrier could lose was $1.2 million. Paula has that in her hip pocket.

Paula's team should have made the lawsuit go away quietly.

If I had been on Paula's risk management team, I would have asked Paula to have a settlement conference with Jackson. I also would have told Paula to:

1. Bring her checkbook.

2. Apologize sincerely and profusely.

3. Make sure that the settlement agreement has a strong confidentiality clause so the settlement or anything said does not make it into the public domain.

Settling claims is about risk management. Risk management is a lot like my late father's career as a bookie and professional gambler.

The key to bookmaking is not to hit a big jackpot. It is to minimize your losses.

Settling insurance claims works the same way. You have to look at what an ugly lawsuit will do to your overall reputation and business and weigh that against the amount of money a settlement might cost.

Obviously no one on Paula's legal team saw the big picture.

Risk management means that when your opponents have a nuclear bomb in their arsenal, you do everything and anything to defuse it.

Long before the decision was made to allow Ms. Dean to take part in a deposition, someone on her legal and claims consulting team should have assessed the risk of that happening.

Looking at the case strictly from a dollar standpoint, it would have saved Deen millions to get the case settled.

Since Ms. Jackson is asking for $1.2 million, I suspect she would have taken a somewhat smaller amount, like a million dollars. Writing that check would have saved Paula from a million problems.

I'm not passing judgment on what she did or did not do. That is not my universe. The job of a risk manager is to see whether duking it out in court or quietly settling an allegation is the best business strategy.

Even if Deen goes on to win the lawsuit and pay nothing, she has already paid with everything.

The irony is that I missed most of the back and forth on the Deen lawsuit while I was at the annual convention for the Kentucky Bar Association. I attended a fascinating session on the use of mediation.

Mediation is a concept that barely existed 20 years ago and now is universally used in every type of litigation. It has been the ultimate game changer in the legal profession. Cases rarely go to trial unless all attempts at settlement are exhausted.

The panel contained stars in injury litigation like former Kentucky Chief Justice Joseph Lambert and Louisville lawyer Vanessa Cantley, but also tax and business attorneys.

I've been involved in the mediation process for 25 years, but it was an eye opener to see how it is used for every type of dispute, including settlement with the Internal Revenue Service.

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said, "he who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious."

Paula Deen's risk management crew would have been smart to take advice from a wise Chinese general from the fifth century.

They lost a battle they should have never fought.

Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is a settlement planner, licensed claims adjuster and licensed insurance consultant with over 30 years experience in working with complex torts, harassment and discrimination claims. He is also a syndicated columnist and author of six best-selling books. You can find more about him at www.mcnay.com or www.donmcnay.com

Follow Don McNay on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Donmcnay

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