Paula Deen dropped by Food Network over use of N-word US celebrity chef Paula Deen has been axed by the Food Network amid a racial scandal. Picture: AP Source: Supplied ONE of America's most famous chefs has been fired after becoming embroiled in a racism scandal. Paula Deen - dubbed the Queen of Southern cooking - was fired by the Food Network after admitting using the N-word. Officials at the channel today confirmed they would not renew Deen's contract. "Food Network will not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month," the statement said. The Food Network made Deen a star with Paula's Home Cooking in 2002 and later Paula's Home Cooking in 2008. Her axing follows a video statement in which she acknowledged using racial slurs, on the same day she backed out of a planned appearance on the Today show about the controversy. The public scandal broke earlier in the week when the cooking star admitted during a discrimination trial that she had "of course" used the N-word in the past. Dean, 66, and her brother Bubba Hiers were sued by former employee Lisa Jackson, who alleged sexual harassment and a hostile work environment at Deen and Hiers restaurant, Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House. "I want to apologise to everybody for the wrong I've done," Deen said in a video statement. 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 . . . for your forgiveness," she concluded.