Could Paula Deen Go Back to Food Network?

The Food Network was quick to dismiss Paula Deen, the Dixieland chef who apparently may still have some antebellum attitudes. Two days after the publication of a court deposition in which Deen admits to having used a racial slur and seems insensitive about matters of race, the cable channel owned by Scripps Networks Interactive said it would not renew her contract when it expires at the end of June. Then again, Food Network was also quick to walk away from Robert Irvine, host of Dinner: Impossible, in 2008, and Anne Thornton, host of Dessert First With Anne Thornton, last year. Yet Irvine is back on-air, and Thornton remains on Food Network’s website.

Irvine arrived in St. Petersburg in 2006 to launch Dinner: Impossible, which featured him creating meals under arduous conditions. The British navy veteran was tough and charismatic. He had biceps. He was also a good chef. And, according to him, he had cooked for presidents and helped make the wedding cake for Princess Diana. He was also a knight—with a castle.