Rapidly decaying Georgia peach Paula Deen has just posted, removed, and reposted (UPDATE: and removed) a choppy, heavily edited YouTube video statement in which she solemnly begs for forgiveness from "you" (us) (black people?), her children, her team, her fans, and her partners "for the mistakes that I've made."
Quick refresher: The mistakes that she's made include having used racial slurs
Deen was scheduled to appear on Today Friday morning for what host Matt Lauer called "an open and candid discussion, no holds barred." However, shortly before the interview was due to be filmed, Deen backed out. Lauer announced the abrupt cancellation on air.
'Paula Deen was scheduled to do an interview with us this morning, live in our studio, but we just found out, she’s a no show' - @mlauer
— TODAY (@todayshow) June 21, 2013
He later added that Deen's representatives cited "exhaustion" as the reason for her no-show.
UPDATE: Deen's camp has just made the video "private" on YouTube for what appears to be the second time since it was uploaded earlier this afternoon. We've preserved the original version above. Here's a full transcript. (Note: [BREAK] signifies a moment when the video cuts to a white screen, indicating an edit has taken place.)
I wanna apologize to everybody. for the wrong that I’ve done. I want to learn and grow from this. [BREAK] Inappropriate, hurtful language is totally, totally inacceptable. [BREAK] 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. [BREAK] Please forgive me for the mistakes that I’ve made.
To contact the author of this post, email caity@gawker.com.