PANIC MODE

Wanted: P.R. Pro to Help Paula Deen

Ahead of big “Today” show appearance.

It’s a big day for Paula Deen, and she’s determined to not screw it up this time. That’s why the embattled former Food Network star is on the prowl for a PR pro to prep her ahead of her “Today” show appearance Wednesday. Deen already ditched Matt Lauer once, claiming she was “physically unable” to sit down with the morning-show host and explain her admitted propensity for using the N word, and since then things have only gotten worse. Earlier this week a former cook at one of Deen’s restaurants said he and his fellow black employees were regularly forced to work parties at the Georgian’s Savannah estate where beer was the payment. But while Deen may need PR help more than ever, an NBC source told the Daily News that she should still expect to answer the question on everyone’s minds. “Matt plans to ask her straight up, ‘Are you a racist?’” said the source. “And she knows that the question is coming.”