An appearance by a tearful Paula Deen — caught up in a swirling controversy over her use of the N-word — shifted the balance of power in the morning ratings Wednesday.

Deadline.com reports that NBC’s “Today” show, where Deen was grilled by Matt Lauer about the scandal, pushed its way past ABC’s “Good Morning America” for the first time since November, during coverage of Hurricane Sandy.

“According to the early calculations, ‘Today’ averaged 4.84 million viewers and ‘GMA’ 4.67 mil.,” the story reports. “To put this in perspective: One day earlier, ‘GMA’ had clocked nearly 800,000 more viewers than ‘Today,’ using the same early measurement system.”

The piece notes that Wednesday’s breaking news of Supreme Court decisions leaves the picture unclear.

“On Wednesday a gigantic live breaking news event — Supreme Court rulings — happened at 10 AM-ish ET (7 AM-ish PT), which means the news broke just as the morning infotainment programs were revving up on the West Coast,” the story reports. “Because these Nielsen stats are not program adjusted, there is a chance they could change significantly when final ratings are ready.”