Paula Deen Slams Late Anthony Bourdain in TIFF Documentary

Paula Deen revisited her long-standing feud with the late Anthony Bourdain in her 2025 documentary "Canceled: The Paula Deen Story," where she criticized Bourdain's travel-focused shows and his harsh comments about her cooking. Bourdain had labeled Deen as "the worst, most dangerous person in America" due to her unhealthy food and dismissed her Southern cuisine as novelty food, a claim Deen and her son have disputed. Deen responded to Bourdain's critiques with dismissive remarks about his adventurous eating habits, referencing exotic dishes like bat brains and warthog anus, while reaffirming her preference for traditional Southern fried chicken. The documentary also touched on their mutual antagonism, including Bourdain's sarcastic comments about Deen's past legal issues and her invitation for him to have a home-cooked meal, which he rejected. Deen expressed a somber reflection on Bourdain's death by suicide in 2018, suggesting he may have struggled personally, saying, "I felt like he didn’t like anybody. Not even himself, maybe." The film uses archival footage and new interviews to explore the complex dynamics of their public feud alongside Deen's broader career controversies.