You Might Want to Rethink

1:00 PM PT -- FYI, Paula just yanked the video apology from her YouTube channel.

Paula Deen continues to step in it, and we know part of the problem is that her team doesn't have a clue.

She just issued a weird, video apology with an edit after almost every sentence. It's as if some publicist is feeding her lines that she has trouble delivering.

Rather than explaining why she used the N-word in the past -- something she might have been able to explain given her background -- she's just begging for forgiveness. It feels like it's coming from a bunch of suits, and not from her heart. Huge miss.

It's the boobie battle you've all been waiting for -- 22-year-old "Teen Mom" porn star Farrah Abraham (with her brand new D cups) and the legendary Tanning Mom (with her genuine leather speed bags).

It's actually a hilarious coincidence ... Farrah and 45-year-old Patricia Krentcil both posed for topless photo shoots on the beaches of Malibu Thursday.

Malibu beaches are a hot spot for celeb photo shoots, so it's not that surprising they showed up around the same place -- but it's incredible they BOTH decided to drop their tops.

Paula Deen is using the "I'm from the South" excuse to justify her use of the N-word ... saying that when she grew up, dropping an N-bomb was no big deal because everyone was racist.

Paula Deen Enterprises just issued the following statement to TMZ ... "During a deposition where she swore to tell the truth, Ms. Deen recounted having used a racial epithet in the past, speaking largely about a time in American history which was quite different than today."

FYI -- the "time" Paula admitted to using the N-word was 1986!!!!!

Anyway, the statement continues ... "[Paula] 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."

Famed black Southern chef Joe Randall -- who once taught Paula Deen a few tricks -- says he's extremely hurt by Deen's admitted use of the n-word ... but tells TMZ, he'd STILL welcome her at his establishment.

Randall -- who runs the famous Savannah Cooking School in Georgia where Deen once studied -- tells us, he can't say definitely whether Deen's a racist simply because she once used the n-word ... but says, "I can say that her admitting to using derogatory language and the n-word is very hurtful."

Randall called the language racist, but said, "You have to understand we're in the South and some people think that it's acceptable to use [racist] language from 50 years ago."

Now the shocking part ... Randall says, "As a businessman, of course she is welcome in my establishment like any other client would be. I wouldn't turn her down at all."

He adds, "Although I don't respect that she used derogatory hateful words ... and if she came into my establishment and we were to talk, I would tell her I don't agree with her words."

Translation: money talks, racist or not.

She already (kinda) redeemed herself for that infamous pageant flub -- so yesterday, we decided to pelt the beautiful Miss Utah with some brain-twisting riddles instead ... and she actually did pretty damn well.

21-year-old Marissa Powell had just touched down in L.A. for her appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" -- and while she was at the airport, we asked her a bunch of questions to test her wits on the fly ... such as the classic "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" and "What can you put in a bucket of water to make it lighter?"

She doesn't exactly get them right, but she doesn't exactly get them wrong either. Then again, she could probably say anything and we'd be happy.

11:52 AM PT -- Paula's rep issued a statement to TMZ ... saying, "Ms. Deen does not condone or find the use of racial epithets acceptable. She is looking forward to her day in court.”

When Paula Deen was asked, under oath, if she has ever used the N-word -- she responded, "Yes, of course" ... and the shocking admission was all captured on tape.

Deen was being deposed in connection with a pending sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former employee who claims she was subjected to a barrage of racist, sexist and generally inappropriate comments while she worked at Paula's Oyster House restaurant in Georgia.

Here are the highlights from the jaw-dropping depo:

Lawyer: Have you ever used the N-word yourself?
Paula: Yes, of course.

Lawyer: Okay. In what context?
Paula: Well, it was probably when a black man burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head.

Sidenote -- Paula was held up at gunpoint during a bank robbery in 1986.

Lawyer: Okay. And what did you say?
Paula: Well, I don't remember, but the gun was dancing all around my temple ... I didn't -- I didn't feel real favorable towards him.

Lawyer: Okay. Well, did you use the N-word to him as he pointed a gun in your head at your face?
Paula: Absolutely not.

Lawyer: Well, then, when did you use it?
Paula: Probably in telling my husband.

Lawyer: Okay. Have you used it since then?
Paula: I'm sure I have, but it's been a very long time.

Lawyer: Can you remember the context in which you have used the N-word?
Paula: No.

Lawyer: Has it occurred with sufficient frequency that you cannot recall all of the various context in which you've used it?
Paula: No, no.

Lawyer: Well, then tell me the other context in which you've used the N-word?
Paula: I don't know, maybe in repeating something that was said to me.

Lawyer: Like a joke?
Paula: No, probably a conversation between blacks. I don't -- I don't know. But that's just not a word that we use as time has gone on. Things have changed since the '60s in the south. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior. As well as I do.

We reached out to Paula for comment -- so far, no word back.

Serena Williams isn't exactly apologizing for the incendiary comments she allegedly made about the Steubenville rape victim ... because she's not entirely sure she said them, at least that's the way it seems from the BS statement she just released.

Williams came under fire this week over an article printed in Rolling Stone ... in which the tennis superstar is quoted as saying, "[the Steubenville rape victim] shouldn’t have put herself in that position" on the night she was raped at a high school party.

But moments ago, Williams issued a statement on her website -- in which she takes NO responsibility for the comments ... and suggests she may not have ever said them at all.

"I am currently reaching out to the girl’s family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article. What was written – what I supposedly said – is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame."

Kanye West is being slammed as "ignorant" and "distasteful" over a lyric on his new album which uses Parkinson's disease as a punch line ... TMZ has learned.

The song in question is called "On Sight" -- which includes the lyric, "A monster about to come alive again / Soon as I pull up and park the Benz / We get this bitch shaking like Parkinson's."

Now, TMZ has learned the American Parkinson Disease Association is upset about the lyric -- with the org.'s VP Kathryn Whitford telling us, "We find these lyrics distasteful and the product of obvious ignorance."

FYI -- the APDA has been around for over 50 years and it's the largest organization in the country dedicated to helping those with Parkinson's and furthering efforts to find a cure.

After days of ridicule, Miss Utah finally had a chance to redeem herself on the "Today" show this AM -- and this time she answered the infamous pageant question WITH FLYING COLORS!!! For a beauty queen.

Marissa Powell sat down with Matt Lauer and explained -- as TMZ previously reported -- that nerves got the best of her during Sunday night's Miss USA contest ... causing her to give one of the most confusing answers in pageant history.

Matt, being the saint he is, gave Marissa ONE MORE SHOT to get the question right ... see how she did this time. And remember folks she only had 48 hours, the Internet and a team of people to help her prepare.

Talk about pressure.

Rapper J. Cole was basically extorted by a sick fan who tweeted a photo of a little girl with a gun to her head ... and claimed he would shoot her if Cole did not respond to his message.

The fan tweeted last night "@JColeNC retweet me and I'll buy Born Sinner. Don't retweet me and I'll kill my lil sister."

Shortly after the threatening tweet, which refers to Cole's new album ... Cole did indeed retweet the message.

It's unclear if the gun is real or where the twisted bastard behind the tweet actually lives. The account, which we're not revealing, claims to be out of Saudi Arabia -- but the truth is it could be anywhere in the world.

We reached out to police in North Carolina -- where J. Cole lives -- to see if they were investigating ... but they hadn't heard anything about it.

We also contacted Twitter headquarters ... a rep said the company doesn't comment on individual accounts to protect privacy

This morning J. Cole commented about the incident, saying ... "Wildest s**t I ever seen on twitter."

Lil Wayne is lying through his diamond-encrusted teeth ... claiming he didn't INTENTIONALLY step on the American flag during a video shoot ... despite the fact he can be seen looking down on Old Glory several times during the performance.

Wayne just tweeted about his controversial video shoot for "God Bless Amerika" in New Orleans ... saying, "I didn't step on the flag on purpose! It's a scene in a video where the flag drops behind me and after it drop it's just there as I perform."

Translation -- I swear it was an accident ... please don't hate me.

So ... you buyin' Weezy's explanation?

Here’s Miss South Carolina Teen USA 2007, Caitlin Upton at age 18 (left) … and Miss Utah USA, Marissa Powell (21) this past weekend (right) -- Both beauty queens famously bombed their responses to a pageant question.

Miss Utah is beyond humiliated after her epic Q&A fail at the Miss USA pageant, and she's blaming her brain fart on a massive case of nerves ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to Marissa Powell tell TMZ the beauty queen's mortified after babbling ... "we need to see how to create education better" while attempting to answer a question about salary inequality for women.

Marissa's now telling friends she botched the response because she was so anxious she spaced out during the question, and never really heard it.

Instead of asking the judge to repeat the question ... Marissa decided to fake an answer, but got more and more flustered as she tried to improvise.

Takes you back to high school, right?

Or maybe to 2007 with the South Carolina, and such as ...

Miss Utah Marissa Powell put on a clinic at the Miss USA pageant Sunday night -- but did she snatch the bumbling-stumbling crown from former Miss South Carolina Teen USA?

Time for a dumb-off ... enjoy!

Lil Wayne trampled the American flag over the weekend ... and there's footage.

Weezy performed the stunt while shooting his new music video for "God Bless Amerika" in New Orleans.

The lyrics to Wayne's song are just as controversial ... "My country 'tis of thee / Sweet land of kill 'em all and let 'em die / God bless Amerika / This ole' godless Amerika."

So we gotta ask ...