TV chef axed for unsavoury slurs Chef: Paula Deen admits using the N-word. Paula Deen begged for forgiveness, but the Food Network apparently decided sorry wasn't good enough. On Friday - the same day the celebrity chef apologised for using the N-word and other racial insensitivities in her past - the US cable network announced it was kicking Deen out of the kitchen. "Food Network will not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month," the network said. Deen, 66, is the host of Paula's Best Dishes. The day started on a sour note for the Georgia-born chef and quickly turned worse. She failed to appear for an early-morning interview with NBC's Today, where she was scheduled to discuss the controversy that has erupted over a videotaped deposition last month. Deen is being sued by the former manager of a restaurant she owned with her brother. Under sworn testimony, Deen revealed that "of course" she had used the N-word to describe black people in the past and said she had planned a wedding party in which black waiters were to be attired as pre-Civil War slaves. Later in the day, she issued an impassioned plea for forgiveness on YouTube. "I want to apologise to everybody for the wrong that I've done," she said in the video. I want to learn and grow from this. ... Inappropriate, 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. But by midday, users who tried to view the apology received the message: "This video has been removed by the user."