Apologetic Paula Deen Let Go By Food Network After Racial Slurs Controversy

Deen said she wants to "learn and grow" from the experience.

ByABC News
June 21, 2013, 3:36 PM

June 21, 2013— -- Paula Deen made a teary apology in two online videos today for her use of racial slurs, however the Food Network said it was firing the self-proclaimed queen of southern cooking.

"Food Network will not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month," a spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.

Deen, whose folksy charm catapulted her to fame with viewers on the Food Network, apologized today for the "mistakes that I have made" in the wake of criticism of a deposition in which she admitted to using racial slurs.

WATCH: Paula Deen: 'I Beg For Your Forgiveness'

"I want to apologize to everybody for the wrong that I've done," a teary Deen said in a 46-second video that was posted online this afternoon.

"I want to learn and grow from this. Inappropriate and hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable," she said. "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. Please forgive me for the mistakes that I have made."

In a second video, spanning nearly two minutes, Deen appeared more composed and said she offered her "sincere apology to those that I have hurt and I hope that you forgive me because this comes from the deepest part of my heart."

"I have spent the best of 24 years to help myself and others. Your color of your skin, your religion, your sexual preference does not matter to me but it's what in the heart, what's in the heart, and my family and I try to live by that," she said in the second video. "I am here to say I am so sorry. I was wrong."

The celebrity chef and her brother are being sued for racial and sexual discrimination by Lisa Jackson, who worked as a manager of their restaurant. During a deposition in May, Jackson's lawyer asked Deen, 66, if she'd ever used the N-word. She said she had.

On Thursday, Paula Deen Enterprises told ABC News in a statement that the chef was "speaking largely about a time in American history which was quite different than today."

"She was born 60 years ago when America's South had schools that were segregated, different bathrooms, different restaurants and Americans rode in different parts of the bus. This is not today," the statement said.

Deen's attorney, Bill Franklin, said Deen "does not condone or find the use of racial epithets acceptable."

Deen became one of the Food Network's top stars after she landed her first show, "Paula's Home Cooking," in 2002.