‘Paula’s Best Dishes,’ more Paula Deen shows to end; ‘MasterChef’ future unclear

The other shoe has dropped when it comes to Paula Deen’s future on the Food Network in the wake of controversy regarding some race-related comments in a deposition, and this time, it hits the famed celebrity chef’s relationship with the network that helped to make her into a star.

In a statement to the New York Times, the Food Network has confirmed that they will not renew Deen’s contract this summer following the controversy surrounding her comments. This means that all of Deen’s current series, including “Paula’s Best Dishes,” will come to a close. However, shows currently featuring her children (who really did nothing wrong in this instance) will continue on at this time.

Deen decided to shoot herself in the foot again with a series of publicity faux pas, beginning with her decision to not take part in an interview with “The Today Show” despite flying out the night before to take part in it. From there, her team proceeded to post what was an awkward, choppily-edited “apology” video that felt hollow, and was quickly removed from online. She followed that up with a new apology from her office, which you can see below.

The last bit of news some of you may be curious about is what the future holds for her and “MasterChef.” An appearance by Deen on the cooking competition (which she had done in past years) was taped before these comments came to a light, and a spokesperson for Fox tells Zap2It that no decision has been made at this time. The difficulty there is that Paula likely served as a judge or assistant in the challenge, which played a role in something that may have impacted an outcome of an individual episode.

What do you think about this news, and do you think that there is really any way at all that Paula will be able to recover from something like this? If you want to read what Matt Lauer had to say about Deen’s absence this morning, you can do so over here.

Photo: Food Network