Was 'The Gossip Table' Right About That Paula Deen On 'DWTS' Story?

The Celebutainment News Complex loves a gossip story that is both simple to explain and can offer up a bit of that "WTF?!?!" that is so important for all clickable entertainment stories. So it's not surprising that a story about the possibility that Paula Deen might appear on "Dancing With The Stars" spread as quickly as mono at a Cody Simpson concert.

The story exploded after Friday's edition of the VH1 series "The Gossip Table," included a segment with Rob Shuter in which he said there "are reports" that Paula Deen has been approached to appear on "Dancing With The Stars." Shuter said that he had reached out to the publicist for the show, who said that the network doesn't comment on casting stories. Which means, Shuter noted breathlessly, "that they didn't deny it!"

After watching the segment a few times, I still can't figure out the source of those "reports" might be. Shuter says he spoke to someone close to the show who said they'd love to have Deen as part of the show. but if that's accurate, why say the story is based on "reports?" Why not headline the story with a proud "I'm reporting XYZ?"

Looking back through Google News and several other news aggregators, I can't find any mention of the idea earlier than Shuter's piece on VH1 and this accompanying piece on his blog. So where are these "reports" coming from?

Shuter uses this quote from an "ABC Insider" on his blog, which could be a network executive or someone delivering mail in a far-flung ABC building:

"The producers would love to have Paula join the cast of next season," one ABC insider tells THE GOSSIP TABLE. “They have a history of casting controversial people like Kate Gosselin and Bristol Palin, if Paula says ‘yes,’ you can add her to that list."

Even more amusing, his blog post uses his appearance on VH1 as the "source" of the story.

Granted, the sourcing of facts in entertainment stories is problematical at best. But this story seems flimsier than most, although that lack of reality in the facts hasn't stopped more than 1,500 sites from posting a piece based on this craptastic bit of pseudo-journalism.