Paula Deen misses ‘Today Show’ appearance due to ‘exhaustion’; Matt Lauer responds

This has clearly been a week of good and bad things happening when it comes to some of the biggest stars on TV. Kim Kardashian gave birth to a baby girl, but then decided to inexplicably name the kid “North West.” Then, there was the tragic death of James Gandolfini, which towered over the triumph of many other actors and some scoop on their respective shows.

When it comes to the most controversial story of the week, one of the candidates has to be Paula Deen admitting in a deposition (which was later released to the public) that she has previously used the n-word in her life, but not in a harassment suit brought against her by former employees of her Georgia restaurant.

Deen was supposed to appear on “The Today Show” Friday in order to discuss this scandal and other topics, but she bailed at the last minute. What happened? After stating the following, Lauer said that her publicity team said that she was too “exhausted” to appear on the show after an overnight flight:

“We had planned to have an exclusive live interview with Paula Deen this morning. We spoke several times with her people yesterday and then I spoke with Paula yesterday afternoon.

“We agreed there would be no restrictions to that interview only that it would be an open and candid exchange.”

This has also been a rather interesting week for Matt Lauer, as the veteran actor appeared on Howard Stern’s talk show this week and gave what may arguably be some of his most-candid comments to date on the subject of the show, the staff changeover regarding Ann Curry, and also his opinion on Katie Couric.

What do you think about Deen skipping out on the interview? As always, we want to hear from you below!

Photo: NBC

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