Paula Deen has released a video of herself apologizing for making racial slurs in the past, but that wasn’t enough to keep her from being dropped by the Food Network.
The down-South country cook was recently sued by a former employee who accused her of being a racist and when the transcript of Paula’s day in court went viral, it took the accusations to a whole new level.
Paula’s shocking confession to using the N-word caused the Food Network to take action.
“Food Network will not renew Paula Deen’s contract when it expires at the end of this month,” the network announced in a brief statement.
The decision comes just days after a Food Network spokesperson said the network would be watching the situation closely because it “does not tolerate any form of discrimination.”
Paula is currently featured in three different programs on the network – one new series and two other series that are aired as reruns. It is unclear if the cancellation of her contract will allow the network to still rerun the older shows.
From a public relations standpoint it probably wouldn’t be a great idea, and neither was Paula’s first apology.
The only thing that can make a racial controversy any worse is having a publicity team that doesn’t seem to know how to deal with the situation.
In an edited apology video that was posted to YouTube, Paula seemed only to be saying farewell to her fans and didn’t appear to be feeling all that guilty about what she had said.
“I have had the pleasure of being allowed into so many homes across the country and meeting people who have shared with me the most touching and personal stories,” she said in the scripted video. “…This would not have been possible without the Food Network. Thank you again. Love and best dishes to all of y’all.”
She apologized, although her sincerity in the video was called into question by many of her former fans.
“I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I’ve done,” Paula said during the same video. “I want to learn and grow from this. Inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable.”
What made the video so bizarre was the number of edits. After almost ever sentence there was an edit in the footage and as TMZ pointed out, it seemed as though Paula was being fed lines from someone on the other side of the camera.
Apparently, even Paula wasn’t buying the phony apology as she yanked the video from YouTube after just a few hours.
The 66-year-old culinary star then replaced the video with another apology clip that seemed much less scripted and a bit more genuine.
The second video was shot by Paula herself without the fancy edits of a team of production assistants.
She kicked things off by apologizing for backing out of the interview with NBC’s “Today” show and explaining that she was “physically not able” to get herself to do the interview.
“I’m taking this opportunity now that I’ve pulled myself together and am able to speak, to offer an apology to those that I hurt,” she said on the second video. “…My family and I are not the kind of people the press are wanting to say we are.”
She went on to say that “your color, your religion, your sexual preference does not matter” to her because it’s “what’s in the heart” that is truly important.
