Gilbert Gottfried and Al Sharpton on Paula Deen

According to “In Touch Weekly” they spoke to comedian Gilbert Gottfried to get his input on the Paula Deen scandal. They have a few quotes from Gottfried, who lost his gig as the Aflac duck a couple of years ago after his insensitive jokes about Japanese tsunami victims.

The irreverent comedian says, “I think the Internet and the world in general is one big lynch mob nowadays” and adds, “I feel an almost sentimental fondness for old-time lynch mobs. At least then they had to throw a jacket on, go outside, get their hands dirty. Now you can sit around in your underwear on your computer typing out insults,” but he never actually says anything about Paula Deen at all. Well, unlike Deen, Gilbert was fired for his behavior at the time the behavior occurred.

And that is a very important point that the Rev. Al Sharpton, agrees with. Rev. Al does not believe the celebrity chef should be punished for something she did more than two decades ago. He apparently thinks the Food Network and others have jumped the gun in their treatment of Paula Deen.

“A lot of us have in the past said things we have regretted saying years ago,” he replied. “I think she has a lawsuit now about activities now whether it was discriminatory. And whether or not she’s engaged in things now. It’s not about her past. … She deserves what’s fair, but that’s based on what she’s engaged in now,” and, he continued to say: “You cannot deal with what is fair or not fair until we see an outcome of the present circumstances she is accused of, not something that happened 20 years ago.”