Fox News Correspondent Starnes: “The Liberal, Anti-South Media” Is “Trying To Crucify Paula Deen”

A Fox News correspondent is attacking “the liberal, anti-South media” for unfairly “trying to crucify Paula Deen” over her admission in a court deposition that she's used racial epithets.

Todd Starnes, who also hosts a Fox News Radio segment, wrote on his Facebook page that the “liberal, anti-South media is trying to crucify Paula Deen. They accuse her of using a derogatory word to describe a black person. Paula admitted she used the word -- back in the 1980s - when a black guy walked into the bank, stuck a gun in her face and ordered her to hand over the cash. The national media failed to mention that part of the story. I'll give credit to the Associated Press for telling the full story.”

Starnes also defended Deen via Twitter, writing: “The mainstream media hates Paula Deen [...] I think it's because most of them don't eat meat.”

Starnes' defense of Deen doesn't square with reports about Deen's deposition. The Huffington Post reported it “obtained a transcript of the deposition in question" and Deen is quoted as stating she “probably” used the word “in telling my husband” about the incident, and she is “sure” she's used it since then, “but it's been a very long time.” She went on to say “my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior. As well as I do.” 

Deen also discussed planning a “really southern plantation wedding” and was asked if she used the n-word then:

Lawyer: Is there any possibility, in your mind, that you slipped and used the word “n--r”?

Deen: No, because that's not what these men were. They were professional black men doing a fabulous job.

She apologized today in an online video “to everybody for the wrong that I've done ... Inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable.”

In 2011, Starnes tweeted “Blacks riot at Burger King” and linked to a local news story about a cell phone camera capturing a brawl at a Panama City Beach Burger King. The story did not mention or discuss the race of the participants. The tweet was later deleted. 

Starnes' Facebook post: