Paula Deen Begs For Forgiveness From The Public After Bailing on ‘Today’ Show Interview, Perhaps Actually Manages To Make Things Worse

Jeremy Blacklow

(This article was originally published at 10:45 a.m. PT, and later updated to reflect Deen having posted the video embedded above.)

Paula Deen posted a video to YouTube mid-day Friday in which she begged forgiveness in the wake of the recent release of her deposition statements for a discrimination lawsuit made by a former employee. In the deposition, Deen admits to having used the N-word and tolerating racist jokes.

"I want to apologize to everybody, uh, for the wrong that I've done," Deen begins.

She continues, "I want to learn and grow from this ... inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally, unacceptable ... I've made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I beg you, my children, my team, my fans, my partners, I beg for your forgiveness. Please forgive me for the mistakes that I've made."

Earlier that day, the 66-year-old bailed on a "Today" show interview with Matt Lauer.

The NBC News morning show was none to happy with Deen, and called out her "no-show" in the cold open of its broadcast. A clearly irritated Lauer said that he spoke with Deen about having a "candid, open and no-holds-barred discussion," but then added that, just minutes before it went to air, the show was contacted by Deen's publicist who relayed that the celebrity chef was exhausted and wouldn't be showing up.

The "Today" show tweeted:

And Lauer later tweeted:

Added Al Roker, "She’s been on the show so many times, she’s a friend of the show - we consider her a friend … We would hope she would reconsider, because she really needs to address this.” "

[Related: Paula Deen Admits to Racial Slurs, (Possibly) Slaughters Career]

Earlier in the morning, Deen had tweeted that she was planning to address the controversy shortly:

Deen didn't do herself any favors however, when she deleted a tweet about a watermelon cooler recipe, following social media criticism that the tweet may have been distasteful in the midst of this ongoing controversy.

Two days ago, Deen tweeted, "Take advantage of all of that fresh watermelon comin’ our way with this refreshing cooler at your next get-together!", but on Friday that tweet was taken down.

Here are just a couple of examples of user reactions on Twitter that demonstrate the public frustration:

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