Advertisement

UPDATED: Miss America CEO resigns after crude emails about former contestants revealed

Misogyny seems to be a trend among men in the pageant industry.

Sam Haskell, left, CEO of Miss America Organization, stands beside current and former contestants during the Miss America Pageant arrival ceremonies Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, in Atlantic City. CREDIT: AP Photo/Mel Evans
Sam Haskell, left, CEO of Miss America Organization, stands beside current and former contestants during the Miss America Pageant arrival ceremonies Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, in Atlantic City. CREDIT: AP Photo/Mel Evans

Miss America CEO Sam Haskell resigned just 48 hours after HuffPost published a series of internal emails showing him making disparaging and vile comments on the appearances of Miss America contestants.

In an email to HuffPost, Dan Meyers, the Miss America Board’s interim chairman, said, “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.”

The board had earlier voted to suspend Haskell on Friday. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesperson said, “The Board will be conducting an in-depth investigation into alleged inappropriate communications and the nature in which they were obtained. In addition, the Board wishes to reaffirm our commitment to the education and empowerment of young women, supporting them in every way possible.”

In the emails reported by HuffPost, Haskell jokes about renaming former Miss America winners, currently labeled by the organization as “Forever Miss Americas, “C—s” and calls former winners a “pile of malcontents and has beens who blame the program for not getting them where they think they can go.”

Advertisement

In December of 2014, Lewis Friedman, lead writer for the Miss America telecast, emailed Haskell to offer his condolences on the death of former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley.

The subject line of Friedman’s email read: “It should have been Kate Shindle.”

Haskell replied, “Thanks so much Coach…even in my sadness you can make me laugh…how was the Kennedy Center Honors? Love you and appreciate you! Sam.”

Shindle is a former 1998 Miss America winner, now an actress and singer. She responded to the emails on Twitter writing Haskell’s behavior made her “physically ill.”

Haskell has called the claims “unkind and untrue.”

Misogyny among men in the pageant industry is recently being reported as widespread, reaching even the President of the United States. President Donald Trump, a former Miss USA and Miss Universe owner, as been accused of sexual misconduct by former contestants.

Advertisement

One former Miss USA contestant has alleged Trump used to frequently walk in on contestants while they were changing. Trump even bragged out it in an interview with Howard Stern in 2005 saying, “Before a show, I’ll go backstage and everyone’s getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it.”

Former contestants have stated they felt as though they were being treated as property and were encouraged to wear smaller bathing suits at his request.

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include the news of Haskell’s resignation. President and COO of the organization Josh Randle and Miss America Board chair Lynn Weidner have both also resigned.