To counter critics claiming that Deen is racist, political commentators have noted her supposed support of President Barack Obama.
"Did (Deen) refuse to hire blacks? Has she mistreated them or paid them below the wages of white workers?" conservative radio host Larry Elder wrote recently in an op-ed posted on Investors.com (Investors Business Daily). "And, for what it’s worth, Deen supported and campaigned for Barack Obama."
Elder’s claim about Deen’s political affiliation was the latest we’d seen. But the claim has been picked up by various media outlets, including The Daily Caller, Breitbart.com and Naked DC.
Many celebrities decline to get publicly involved in partisan politics. We wondered whether Deen had actually bucked that trend, so we decided to investigate.
We sought comment from Deen, but her publicist was unable to provide one.
PolitiFact Georgia checked with Elder, and through his producer we learned that the source for his Deen claim was an article last month on the conservative website Breitbart.com. That article references an Us Weekly entertainment magazine slideshow of celebrities and their political affiliations. In fact, most of the outlets that have reported a Deen-Obama connection have relied on the Us Weekly item as their source for information.
The magazine’s online slideshow, produced in October, features about 40 celebrities (including such famous faces as Oprah, Kevin Bacon, Chuck Norris and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), the party they support and a short write-up of their political involvement.
Some of the information includes quotes directly from the celebrities about their party affiliation. But the basis for other items is not so clear. For example, wrestler Hulk Hogan’s description says he is "reportedly" a registered Democrat. And the magazine lists porn star Jenna Jameson as a Republican, with this quote she gave CBS News: "I'm very much looking forward to a Republican being back in office. When you're rich, you want a Republican in office." But that statement doesn’t necessarily equate to Jameson being a Republican.
For Deen’s description, the magazine says she campaigned for Obama back in 2008 and invited first lady Michelle Obama to cook with her on an episode of "Paula’s Party." The write-up goes on to say that Deen later said she "just loved" being around Michelle and praised the first lady for her healthy eating and exercise platform.
We contacted Us Weekly, but it was unable to provide any information on the source for its political listing for Deen. But let’s break down Deen’s description.
Deen did have Michelle Obama on her show for a segment in September 2008. The pair fried shrimp. But Deen also invited then-Republican presidential challenger John McCain’s wife, Cindy, as well as McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, to appear in a segment. Neither McCain nor Palin appear in the show credits from September 2008 to the end of that year.
At the time of the Obama invitation, Deen’s publicist made sure to note that the invite was simply an invite and not an endorsement of Obama’s campaign.
President Obama did visit Savannah in March 2010 on a four-hour jaunt focused on jobs and energy efficiency. He did stop for lunch, but not at Deen’s Lady and Sons restaurant, nor her brother’s place. Instead, Obama ate at Mrs. Wilkes’ Boarding House Restaurant, which also features Southern cuisine.
We also checked out Deen’s alleged support through either her checkbook or her vote, and we came up empty. A search of the federal campaign database doesn’t turn up any campaign contributions to Obama by Deen, her husband, Michael Groover, or under the name of Paula Groover. And a look at the Georgia voter rolls shows that Deen voted in the 2008 general election but does not show her party affiliation. In 1996, the last year for which a party affiliation is attached to her votes, Deen voted in the Republican presidential primary.
