Citing crass emails, ex-Miss Americas call for CEO’s ouster

By WAYNE PARRY
1 hour ago

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Dozens of former Miss Americas called on leaders of the pageant organization to step down in the wake of an email scandal in which the CEO and other officials used crass and vulgar terms to refer to past winners.

The Huffington Post reported Thursday on the emails, which mock some former winners’ appearance, intellect and sex lives. One email used a vulgar term for female genitalia to refer to past Miss America winners.

A petition organized by former Miss North Carolina Jennifer Vaden Barth garnered the signatures of 49 former Miss Americas by midafternoon Friday. The petition called the emails by CEO Sam Haskell and others “despicable” and faulted officials who “sat by without objection while such derisive comments were passed around.”

“We are deeply disturbed and saddened to learn of the sickening and egregious words used by Miss America leadership,” the petition read. “We collectively call for their immediate resignation.”

The Miss America Organization said Thursday night that Haskell has apologized, ...

-snip-

WOMEN 12/21/2017 05:52 pm ET Updated 58 minutes ago

The Miss America Emails: How The Pageant’s CEO Really Talks About The Winners

Internal correspondence reveals name-calling, slut-shaming and fat-shaming in emails between the Miss America CEO, board members and a pageant writer.

By Yashar Ali

In late August 2014, the CEO of the Miss America Organization, Sam Haskell, sent an email to the lead writer of the Miss America pageant telecast, Lewis Friedman, informing him of a change he wanted to make in the script: “I have decided that when referring to a woman who was once Miss America, we are no longer going to call them Forever Miss Americas....please change all script copy to reflect that they are Former Miss Americas!”

Friedman replied, “I’d already changed “Forevers” to “Cunts.” Does that work for you?”

Haskell’s short reply came quickly: “Perfect...bahahaha.”

-snip-

At that point, Haskell had been the leader of Miss America for nine years, after rising through the ranks at a top Hollywood talent agency. Many prior winners, or as they’re called, “formers,” consider the pageant a wonderful, wholesome activity for young women. But Haskell’s behavior behind closed doors shows he regularly maligned, fat-shamed and slut-shamed the former Miss Americas, calling them shocking names and in one case laughing at the suggestion that one of the women should die.

-snip-