It's an ongoing debate that, Allen believes, sends conflicting messages.
"So this debate rages in the public, but when it gets to the comedy world, we're not even allowed to say it, and I gotta refer to it as the N-word, F-word, B-word," the comedian explained. "It gets all the way down the line. It gets really intense; we're running backwards."
In a statement to E! News, Allen addressed the furor surrounding his interview, saying, "If I offended anyone it wasn't my intention."
Since word first broke that Deen admitted to using the N-word in a legal deposition, the celebrity chef has seen her once-dominant empire battered in the aftermath. She was dropped by a slew of business partners—including JCPenney, Sears, Walgreens and Smithfield Foods, among others—and the Food Network eventually pulled the plug on her shows.
Ballantine Books, which had been set to publish her upcoming cookbook Paula Deen's New Testament, also announced that it was canceling the title's publication, despite the fact the book had soared to No. 1 on Amazon's best-seller list.
—Reporting by Ruth O'Neill
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