Ree Drummond Offended Some Fans With Controversial Joke About Chicken Wings Back in Season 2 of ‘The Pioneer Woman’
Ree Drummond has become a popular personality on the Food Network in recent years thanks to her cooking show The Pioneer Woman. The city slicker-turned-cowgirl loves to create delicious, down-home dishes for her family on their Oklahoma ranch.
Meanwhile, fans love watching Drummond cook her heart out while she tells stories about her life. But a segment from one episode during season 2 hasn’t aged well, and it’s left some fans upset and offended.
Some fans don’t like the traditional gender roles promoted on ‘The Pioneer Woman’
Ree has regularly shared with fans the story about how she met her cowboy husband. The Oklahoma native always had dreams of being independent and living in the big city. But that all changed when she met Ladd in an Oklahoma bar during college.
The Food Network star’s dreams changed to being a wife, mother, and homemaker. But she was also able to build a thriving business on her own. However, according to Psychology Today, some believe that Ree is selling “a fake image of domestic bliss” to her fans.
Ree’s promotion of traditional gender roles didn’t sit well with Texas writer Melanie Haupt. She wrote in her dissertation that The Pioneer Woman represents “an idealized woman, a frontier version of the angel in the house with a 21st-century twist. One who offers up domesticity as escapist entertainment.”
Haupt also called out Ree for referring to Ladd in a way that “conjures up images of rugged Western masculinity.”
Ree Drummond offended fans in a season 2 segment about chicken wings
Not only has Ree come under fire for her promotion of traditional gender roles, she’s also faced criticism for a season 2 segment from The Pioneer Woman that some have called racist. According to Eater, in the segment Ree made Asian Hot Wings as a game-day snack for a group of men. But they weren’t happy with what she pulled out of the oven.
One man asks, “Where are the real wings?” Another adds,”I don’t trust ’em.” Ree laughs at the response and tells them, “I’m just kidding guys, I wouldn’t do that to you.” Then, she pulls out a pan of “real” wings – classic American Buffalo style. This switch thrilled the hungry men, with one proclaiming, “Now those are some wings.”
Earlier in the episode, Ree explained that she wanted to pull a prank on her husband because he loves classic Buffalo wings. She thought that serving the Asian version would “mess” with him.
“I like to mess with my spouse, I can’t help it,” Ree says.
However, the people behind Thick Dumpling Skin – a website and podcast dedicated to Asian-American issues – didn’t think the clip was funny.
They shared it on Twitter and wrote in the caption, “Why must we watch non-Asian cooks who can’t pronounce ‘Sriracha’ and don’t have a chopstick drawer show us how to make our own dishes? And how come, when they do, we have to watch as their entire family mocks it — like in this episode of The Pioneer Woman?“
Of course, Ree knows that Ladd prefers the taste of Buffalo chicken wings. The segment appeared to be all about the flavor and appearance of the Asian Hot Wings versus the traditional wings. They never mentioned the people in the Asian-American community.
Ree Drummond and her family were multi-millionaires before ‘The Pioneer Woman’
Despite the fact that Ree and her husband, Ladd, appear to be living a simple life in rural Oklahoma, the couple is incredibly wealthy. Before Ree made a name for herself with The Pioneer Woman, she and Ladd were raking in millions thanks to their land ownership.
As Cheat Sheet has previously reported, the Drummond family owns 433,000 acres, which makes them the 23rd largest landowners in the country.
Because they allow wild horses and burros on their vast property, the Bureau of Land Management paid the Drummond family more than $23 million between 2007 and 2017. Basically, that means the federal government is paying big bucks to rent the land.
While there’s nothing wrong with Ree and her family making money, the numbers came as quite a shock to fans who related to their simple, wholesome way of life. Ree and Ladd are raking in the cash, and it’s way more than anyone realized.
The Pioneer Woman airs Saturday mornings on The Food Network.
