Paula Deen has already been dropped by the Food Network, QVC and Smithfield as the uproar continues over the Southern chef’s racial slurs, but Anne Rice, who is best known for writing “Interview with the Vampire,” thinks Deen is being “crucified.”

Rice took to Facebook to discuss the public’s outrage over Deen using the N-word and many of the author’s fans were in disbelief that she would defend the 66-year-old chef. She asked her fans what they thought:

“What's happening with Paula Dean? [sic] Is it fair? I never heard of her until today, and wow, this looks like a crucifixion. Opinions, thoughts welcome. Thanks to Troy Hawkins for the link. I may be wrong but aren't we becoming something of a lynch mob culture? Is this a good example of that? What are your feelings?”

After Rice’s post on Friday, her Facebook fans didn’t hold back. Many stated how disappointed they were in the author. The status garnered more than 3,000 comments and 150 shares. Rice responded to some of them, but her defense of Deen seemed to be drowned out by irate commenters.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but I think she's being crucified," she wrote back at one point. "The lawsuit is ugly all right, and the brother of Paula Dean comes off as a detestable person. But I don't think Paula Deen should go down over this. I think it's unfair."

She later added, "In more forgiving times, we didn't ask our crude, vulgar self made achievers to be perfect, or politically correct or to have a faultless cultural or religious pedigree. But times have changed."

Despite Deen being let go from many of her endorsements, her brother Bubba Heirs recently told TMZ that his sister’s restaurants have been “slammed” with customers amid the N-word controversy. "We're doing fine," Heirs told the celebrity news site and then went on to describe his restaurants as being “slammed” in a good way.

Deen and her brother Heirs are being sued by a former manager who used to work for the siblings at one of their restaurants. She claims she was forced to endure racial slurs in the work place and sexually harassed. During a deposition, Deen admitted to using the N-word in the past.

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