Paula Deen wants you to hear her side of the story — and charge you for it, too

Paula Deen is hoping that fans will be willing to shell out more bucks to watch her very own TV network. But will fans pay? In fact, does she even have any fans left?

The Queen of Southern Cooking is trying to make yet another comeback after allegations of racial discrimination sent her packing from The Food Network. Though the case was eventually thrown out, Deen’s admission of using the N-word left her without a place to hang her hat in the business.

Paula Deen is back with her own internet network >>

Deen made another appearance on the TodayShow this morning and in the segment, she admitted she couldn’t even watch the reel about what had happened after she was charged with racial discrimination.

“I looked at none of it, Matt, because I didn’t recognize that woman. That was a woman in trauma, in, I would say shock, trying to understand what had happened. The cold, hard fact, Matt, is I probably should not have been here. I probably should have been at home, maybe even under the care of a doctor,” Deen told host Matt Lauer.

What scandal? Paula Deen snatches $75 million deal >>

These days, Deen is hoping the dust has settled enough on the controversy for her to start winning back fans, and of course making a few bucks. She’s starting up her own online TV network and is charging fans $9.99 a month (or $7.99 a month if they pay for a year in advance).

The Paula Deen Network will offer episodes of her original Food Network series, plus 100 new shows (20 episodes per week), as well as a documentary on everything that has happened to her since the controversy.

The question we can’t help but ask is: Who is willing to pay for this? If you want recipes for Southern dishes, you can find them almost anywhere. There are dozens of shows on The Food Network right now that offer recipes every single day, some of them Southern. There also are countless free websites that offer the very same thing.

As for Deen’s personal story, doesn’t it seem a little odd that she’s asking people to pay to hear it? If you really want people to understand what happened and why you’re not such a bad person, then maybe you should make that story available to the world at large.

Paula Deen cleared in race discrimination case >>

Could there actually be fans of Deen’s still out there who are clamoring for this new network? Who would be willing to pay for her recipes and the documentary? Would you pay for such a network?