Paula Deen backed out shortly before a scheduled “Today Show” appearance on Friday, days after it was revealed she had admitted to using the N-word in a court deposition.
The celebrity chef, who made the admission while being deposed in connection with the harassment lawsuit brought against her Georgia restaurant, was due to discuss the comments on the morning show but nixed the interview at the last minute.
A rep for Deen told the show she had to cancel her appearance because she was “exhausted” from flying overnight to New York.
Matt Lauer announced on air, “We had planned to have an exclusive live interview with Paula Deen this morning. We spoke several times with her people yesterday and then I spoke with Paula yesterday afternoon.”
“We agreed there would be no restrictions to that interview only that it would be an open and candid exchange,” said the co-host.
Deen’s camp issued a statement after her deposition surfaced, saying, “Ms. Deen recounted having used a racial epithet in the past, speaking largely about a time in American history which was quite different than today. To be clear Ms. Deen does not find acceptable the use of this term under any circumstance by anyone nor condone any form of racism or discrimination.”
(Source: NBC-TV and GossipCop.com)
