Recipe for disaster

It’s no secret Paula Deen has had a rough couple of weeks. The 66-year-old, self-made cooking machine has built a life around her love of butter and her ability to bring down-home southern cooking to the masses via The Food Network and her Savannah, Ga. restaurant, The Lady & Sons, which she runs with, yes, her sons. Deen’s rags-to-riches story captivated carb- and cheese-lovers across the nation until she finally dropped that racism card we may or may not have known she was holding all these years. Last week Deen lost her deal with The Food Network, which has carried the cook’s shows since 2002, and today, she was dropped by Smithfield Foods, a company that brought the food star on board to help promote the brand in 2006. Both defeats were the result of quite the controversy, including a deposition in a restaurant lawsuit, during which Deen admits to using racial slurs. In a move that only added to her negative press attention, Deen rescheduled an appearance on “Today” last week and will apparently sit down with the morning-show hosts on Wednesday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvHw-uvmnKY Video courtesy of ABC News