Eugene Thomas King Jr., the man who infamously held celebrity chef Paula Deen at gunpoint during a bank robbery in 1987, has passed away.
According to family members, King was discovered dead in his Brooklyn apartment on Thursday. The cause of his death has not yet been disclosed, as reported by TMZ.
During the robbery, Deen was employed as a bank teller. Though the incident initially faded from public view, it resurfaced years later as Deen rose to fame.
The ordeal was brought back into the spotlight in 2013 during a legal case involving a former employee at Deen’s restaurant. In a deposition, Deen mentioned the robbery and admitted to using a racial slur while discussing the traumatic event.
King, speaking in an interview with Inside Edition at the time, expressed sympathy for Deen, stating, “I really feel for her. She’s being persecuted because of that one little mistake in her judgment.”
He further added, “She was acting out of anger.”
Eugene Thomas King Jr., the convicted bank robber who once pressed a gun to Paula Deen’s head during a 1987 holdup, has died; (Deen in 2014)
King made headlines decades ago for the armed robbery that forever linked his name to Deen, who was working as a bank teller at the time
King added, ‘I regret that I pointed a gun at her.I wish there was a way to take it back.’
He had previously expressed remorse in a 1987 statement to police, writing, ‘Please tell her I’m sorry, but I never intended to hurt anyone.’
King’s passing comes as Deen revisited the scandal that upended her empire in the documentary Canceled: The Paula Deen Story, which premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Deen admitted she is still struggling with the aftermath. ‘We lost it all,’ Paula said.
‘I disagree with that,’ her son, Bobby Deen, replied. ‘Mom, I’m sorry to correct you. We have not lost it all. By far. Our family is intact. We’re alive. This was 2013, a long time ago. And our beautiful business has thrived and survived this whole time. We have beautiful families. We have far from lost everything. Far from it.’
Paula stood by her perspective. ‘Son, when I say I lost everything, within 24 hours I lost every job I had,’ she said. ‘Food Network was first to jump off, then Walmart, Target. … It was just everybody.’
Although she later appeared on Dancing with the Stars and continued running several restaurants, Paula acknowledged the emotional toll has lingered.
‘I’m not OK in here,’ pointing to her chest. ‘I’m not OK in here. Until both sides get out, the whole entire dirty truth.’
The controversy dates back to a 2012 lawsuit filed by a former employee at a restaurant she owned with her brother
The controversy dates back to a 2012 lawsuit filed by a former employee at a restaurant she owned with her brother.
During a deposition, Paula was asked whether she had ever used the N-word.
‘Yes, of course,’ she answered, later clarifying in the documentary that she was referring to a moment years earlier – not conduct inside her businesses.
She explained that the comment stemmed from a conversation with her husband after she was robbed at gunpoint by King in 1987.
Legal experts featured in the film argue the question was irrelevant to the workplace claims, noting she was not accused of using the slur at her restaurant.
‘Not one time did the attorney step up and say, “That’s not a legitimate question,”’ Paula said in the documentary.
Paula maintains in the film that she never used inflammatory language at any establishment she owned or operated.
‘When they lay me down, I do not want my tombstone to say, “Here lies the body of a racist,”’ she said.
