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US-based Australian television producer Gordon Elliott has been swept up in a second race scandal involving the high-profile star of one of his shows, the American television chef Paula Deen.
Elliott's company, Follow Productions, is behind a slate of programs featuring 68-year-old Deen.
Deen posted - and later deleted - an image on her Twitter account in which she was dressed as the iconic Lucille Ball, the star of the 1960s-era sitcom, I Love Lucy.
Beside Deen is her 45-year-old son Bobby wearing brown makeup and posing as Ball's husband, the Cuban-born musician and actor/producer Desi Arnaz, who played Ball's on-screen husband Ricky Ricardo in the series.
Elliott, who is best known to Australian audiences as the co-host of Ten's Good Morning Australia in the 1980s, also appears in the image. The image was captioned: "Lucyyyyyyy! You got a lot of esplainin' to do!"
It drew an immediate and hostile response on social media, and Deen's son was accused of wearing "brownface". The image was taken down a short time later.
It has since been republished on a number of websites, including The Hollywood Reporter.
@Paula_Deen @BobbyDeen No, guys, YOU have a lot of "esplainin'" to do.— Gavin Gambini (@GavinGambini)
July 7, 2015
@Paula_Deen @BobbyDeen oh god you did not.— Morgan Evans (@totallymorgan)
July 7, 2015
Paula Deen is like a human confederate flag— daniella❤️ (@FKADaniella)
July 7, 2015
Oh my god Paula Deen. Look, you need some money to hire a PR person that controls what you say and tweet. Stop.— John Paul Green (@JohnPaulGreen)
July 7, 2015
It is one of a series of images released in 2011 by Elliott's production company, to promote a Halloween-themed episode of the series Paula's Best Dishes.
Instances of its publication in 2011, notably on food blogs, have been online for the last four years.
In 2011, the images did not generate a backlash. Between then and now, however - in 2013 - Deen was named in a lawsuit alleging racial and sexual discrimination.
Though the suit was eventually dropped, Deen admitted in her testimony to using the "n-word". The admission materially damaged Deen, resulting in a number of her programs being dropped, and several endorsement contracts, including deals with Walmart, Target and K-Mart, being torn up.
"I have never with any intention hurt anybody on purpose and I never would," an apologetic Deen told US Today show host Matt Lauer in June, 2013.