Savvy Shields, Miss America (Getty)
The Miss America CEO Sam Haskell has been exposed for writing crude emails to past winners of the competition.
In emails between Haskell and other board members, the CEO is seen slut-shaming and fat-shaming the women. A Huffington Post reporter obtained three years’ worth of internal emails, which contained discussions and jokes about the contestants’ weight gain and sex lives. Ali posted a series of emails to his Twitter account.
Action was immediately taken by Dick Clark Productions, which produces the live telecast of the show – they’ve cut ties with the Miss America Organization.
The board members also spoke ill of the women. In 2014, board member Tammy Haddad spoke about some of the former Miss America winners as a “pile of malcontents and has-beens who blame the program for not getting them where they think they can go.” Some particularly vulgar language was used against 2013 winner Mallory Hagan.
“Mallory’s preparing for her new career…as a blimp in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade,” wrote lead telecast writer Lewis Friedman. “As she continues to destroy her own credibility, her voice will attract less and less notice while she continues her descent to an unhappy pathetic footnote… Ps. Are we four the only ones not to have [slept with] Mallory?”
“It appears we are the only ones!” replied Haskell.
In 2015, Haskell felt that Hagan was trying to personally sabotage him, so he informally banned her from coaching any future Miss America contestants. Shortly after this, Hagan’s coaching business flopped.
TV commentator and 1989 Miss American winner Gretchen Carlson was also mentioned in the emails. She was on the board of directors for many years, but experienced a falling out when she refused to speak ill of other contestants. Haddad apparently called her a “snake” at the time.
Carlson tweeted in the wake of the scandal that she is “shocked and deeply saddened” by the content of the emails. #ResignNow was added at the end of her message.
“As a proud former Miss America and former member of the Board of the Miss America Organization, I am shocked and deeply saddened by the disgusting statements about women attributed to the leadership of the MAO. No woman should be demeaned with such vulgar slurs.” #ResignNow
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