"I sometimes thing we need to update our dialogue when it comes to racists. We've at least convinced the world that racism is bad, which is good. However, now people have gotten the idea that

1) Racists are bad people

2) I am not a bad person

3) Therefore, it is unreasonable to call me a racist, no matter what my actions were, as long as my actions stopped short of actively stating out loud "I hate people of X race specifically because of their race" or in-person attendance of a lynching party.

I love the "everyone's a little bit racist" idea - in the sense that we all need to understand that society and culture shapes our personal biases, sometimes even subconsciously, and while it's not a good thing, we can recognize it in ourselves when it's pointed out and change it for the better. If someone calls you out as a racist, some introspection is required to examine your behavior and change it. If someone thinks they're just being called out as a bad person, they're likely to clam up and refuse to acknowledged the accusation (as Deen's doing here). Her excuse of "this is just the way I am" is bullshit - but an excuse of "this is how I understand racism" makes some sense - and we need to update that understanding somehow"

Seems like people are reacting worse to her apology than to her racism.

Her racism and company mismanagement are bad, but the chain of thought in the quoted comment presents what I think must be going on in her subconscious for her to have just said "I is who I is and I'm not changing" because she acknowledges that her staff calling themselves the n-word distresses her (why she didn't tell them that language isn't workplace appropriate if it distressed her, who knows) and she does seem to believe that she's genuinely NOT racist. Paula wants it to stop there because she doesn't see herself as racist because she never meant to hurt anyone. SO she must keep telling herself she's somehow a good/decent person if she doesn't need to change...which is why her apology probably isn't hitting its mark. 

I wonder how she lasted as long as she did in the mainstream.

What happened to her is a direct consequence of her thoughts. It should have happened sooner.

She must be losing her mind as she gets older so she's no longer able to lie about it.