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THE MISS AMERICA pageant’s CEO resigned late last night after dozens of former beauty queens demanded he step down over leaked internal emails that contained misogynistic, fat- and slut-shaming language.
“This afternoon, the Board of Directors of the Miss America Organization accepted the resignation of Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sam Haskell, effective immediately,” interim chairman of the board Dan Meyers said in a statement.
The organisation’s president, Josh Randle and the chair Lynn Weidner also resigned.
“The Board of Directors also accepted the resignation of Chairman Lynn Weidner,” according to the statement from Meyers, which said she would stay on for up to 90 days to “facilitate a smooth transition”.
HuffPost published leaked emails two days before that included a vulgarity that referred past winners being routinely maligned, and the shaming of one over her weight and sex life, with Haskell calling her “a piece of trash”.
Haskell and been suspended the previous day by the organisation, which said it would conduct an “in-depth investigation into alleged inappropriate communications and the nature in which they were obtained”.
Sam Haskell has decried the Huffington Post story as “unkind and untrue”.
“My mistake is a mistake of words,” Haskell wrote in a statement issued on Friday, shortly after the board suspended him indefinitely while it investigates the situation.
Much of what was reported is dishonest, deceptive, and despicable.
The story is so unkind and untrue, and hurts me, my family, and the stewardship of this nonprofit. Those who know my heart know that this is not indicative of my character, nor is it indicative of my business acumen.
Calls for resignation
Dozens of former Miss Americas, including a 87-year-old crowned in 1948 and a former Fox News host, had signed an open letter demanding the resignations of the organisation’s CEO, president and board chair.
“We stand firmly against harassment, bullying and shaming – especially of women – through the use of derogatory terms meant to belittle and demean,” HuffPost quoted the letter as saying.
As Miss Americas, we strongly reject the mischaracterizations of us both collectively and individually. We also reject the ongoing efforts to divide our sisterhood and the attempts to pit us against one another.
Signatories included Gretchen Carlson, who settled a sexual harassment lawsuit in 2016 against then-Fox News boss Roger Ailes for a reported $20 million (€16.9 million), which precipitated his departure from the network.
- With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha, © AFP 2017
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Looks like girl power is getting stronger and stronger.
@Michael Dowd: What would be ultimate girl power would be if women stopped entering these sleazy charades who’s sole existence is to extract money out of young women, who pay hard earned money to enter in they hope they qualify as “beautiful”…it is crass…
@Number 20: Beauty Pageants have nothing to do with Beauty, they are private enterprises driven by profit….
Young women enter these competitions because they want to…they are not being forced into it…so by your logic we already have “ultimate girl power”…
“Judged by busy bodies like me”…come one, if you don’t agree with me fair enough but is there any need for insults!
@Number 20: The only thing I don’t approve of is the existence of “Beauty Pageants”…I believe the are exploitative…but you are right…it’s really none of my business!
@Number 20: unfortunately John Smith has a point. When wemon put themselves in such positions they leave themselves open to sleaze bags to comment. It not too unlike a cattle mart sadly.
@Number 20: lol, men saying that women getting naked and desperately trying to conform to unrealistic beauty ideals is “empowering” for women.
Such stupid guff. Anyone who says that women getting naked and giving men what they want -sexualised access to women at all times- is “empowering” really needs to have a long hard think.
@Number 20: dont tell women how to mamage their movement.
@Number 20: if you actually thought that you wouldn’t spend so much time scrabbling to keep women from making their voices heard in public. If you actually thought that you wouldn’t feel the compulsive need to talk down to me and belittle me. Clearly it makes you so angry that I point these things out that you’re compelled to shut me down.
@Number 20: another thing you don’t seem to realise is that by putting me down using traditionally feminine derogatory names only proves my point. I can imagine you red in the face bellowing “you stupid b!tches what do you feminism for you misandrous tw*ts get back in the kitchen” not realising that you’re literally a direct example of what women are talking about.
@Michael Dowd: do you think this kind of abuse is ok?
@Veronica: the journal seems very happy for you to spout hate speech so you are not being silenced
Cenk Uygur of Young Turks fame (Armenian genocide denier) is also on the hot seat for rapey comments he previously published and far left Vice News is crumbling under the weight of their own sex abuse accusations.
At least Trump had the sense not to use email and to brand all his victims liars.
He’s pretty happy to fatshame from the presidential office though.
@alphanautica: Trump pointed out one of the winners had out on weight in an interview with her sitting beside him! The man has no sense and I am sure he sent emails much worse they just haven’t come out.
@Kal Ipers: Apparently Trump rarely ever uses emails for the very reason that they can be stored and/or intercepted. He prefers to write down sensitive communications and send them by courier. That way if there is ever an investigation only one copy exists and can easily be “mislaid”. If you don’t want the world to know your business, don’t write it down.
@Brian Ward: I never knew Trump also engaged in sensitive communications. He has many unappreciated talents.
@Brian Ward: Or use Twitter
Proper order. Creeps like this give men a bad name.
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: he’s just a man
@Veronica: lol .. you not think women are degrading themselves by walking round in their bikinis spouting something that no one believes? Lol
@Veronica: so now you are saying all men are creeps?
Now it means he can run for president of America. Hi oh, man I’m funny
If some women insist on parading themselves around like cattle they must also suffer the ignorance of their cattle dealers
@John M: I don’t agree with these “competitions” and I think they degrade women, but even so that’s not reason enough to put up with crap like from this creep.
Trying to say it’s ok is laughable
@John M: long ago all women could do to have any sort of “success” was to be good looking. Women are told from birth that the vast majority of their aelf worth is their beauty, its no surprise that women internalised that message.
Sexist crap like beauty pagents will die out eventually if women keep fighting for themselves in society.
@Veronica: ha ha very good, are all baby girls told this in the maternity hospital when they’re born.
Beauty pageants are far from extinct they’re parading their kids from the age of 8 in USA.
Women love nothing more than to groom themselves and their kids. In face they can’t leave themselves alone.
Fake hair
Fake eyelashes
Fake tits
Botox lips
Fake nose
Treaded eyebrows
Fake nails
And so on and so on.
All these repairs women are doing for women not men who don’t notice.
Cue an avalanche of anger from the ‘PC gone Mad’ brigade.
@ted hagan: you are still waiting.
The dick Clark logo looks like a dick
To express an opinion in private is one thing.To publish it is stupid…
have your say