TELEVISION

Kate Gosselin clarifies photo

Staff Writer

The Columbus Dispatch

Kate Gosselin, who seems to be mocking Asians in an old photo

Celebrity chef Paula Deen isn’t the only TV star facing accusations of racism these days.

Kate Gosselin — the titular matriarch of Jon & Kate Plus 8 and Kate Plus 8, a pair of TLC series that profiled her family of twins and sextuplets from 2007 to 2011 — is under fire for a “ personal photo” that surfaced without her permission.

Gosselin seems to make a racist gesture in the photograph, pulling her eyes back as if mocking Asians.

The reality-TV personality clarified the context of the photo on her blog, calling it “a happy memory” from her former marriage to Jon Gosselin.

“Jon and I were opening fan mail together one afternoon, . . . and, when we opened this plastic Asian dress-up wig sent from a caring fan, we smiled, each taking turns posing in it and snapping photos,” she wrote. “Evidently, a fan sent it for me to wear so that I, too, could ‘be Asian’ like the rest of my family.”

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Gosselin dismissed any speculation about racist tendencies: “I married an Asian. I have eight biracial children. I’m quite certain that I’m the last person who could be called a racist.”