When festival founder Lee Brian Schrager took the stage, however, all doubt was erased. Schrager explained that since he couldn’t possibly introduce every celebrity chef, he stopped doing any introductions but this was an exception. He said that when “we were planning the festival this year there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted Paula at the festival this year.” He added that he remembered the first time he saw Paula Deen cook on television. “I remember what she was making, a blueberry tart, what she was wearing, a pink blouse” and that “we must have this crazy lady at the festival.” Schrager then introduced Deen, “back where she has always been and back where she should be.”With that, the Deen family came out. Paula, looking slim in a blue caftan to match her eyes, got an instant standing ovation from the crowd that spilled out into festival. “Hello y’all,” she drawled as adoring fans shouted out, “I love you Paula.” “I love y’all, too,” the Lady replied.
As a woman screamed out “butter,” she said “I want butter.”
“You look good,” said another. “Thank you honey, I feel good,” she replied.
Then, Deen took a moment to get serious and address the elephant in the room: Her lawsuits over alleged racial and sexual discrimination and subsequent admission last summer that she’d used racial slurs. “I want to say something on a real serious note. I feel like I could really talk to y’all and tell you what’s in my heart,” she told the crowd. “What I want to say to y’all, we have come off of a very hard summer. If anybody did not hear me apologize, I want to apologize for those who did not hear me.”