DISS AMERICA
Pageant CEO suspended after outrage over filthy emails
HIS MISOGYNISTIC emails were beyond ugly — leading scores of beauty pageant winners to call for his immediate ouster.
Miss America CEO Sam Haskell was suspended by his board of directors late Friday after a report in the Huffington Post revealed he sent and received disturbing messages bashing and slut-shaming women. At least one winner blasted the suspension as an insult.
“It’s absolutely inadequate, I’m sorry. He’s brought public shame on an organization he claims to love. If he doesn't leave, he's not putting the organization first,” New York-based winner Mallory Hagan, who was Miss America 2013, told the Daily News.
“A suspension sends the message they plan to wait this out until it dies down. That’s absolutely not enough,” she said.
In one of the emails revealed Friday, Haskell called it “perfect” when an employee used an offensive reference to female genitalia as a new moniker for former Miss Americas.
He also personally attacked Hagan with nasty remarks about her weight and sex life.
The crass comments sent shockwaves from Atlantic City, where the annual pageant is held, to the California offices of Dick Clark Productions, which confirmed it cut ties with the Miss America Organization over the “appalling” emails.
Forty-nine of the pageant’s former winners banded together in a letter that rejected Haskell’s “egregious” behavior and called on the group’s top leadership to resign.
The board said it planned an internal investigation but stopped short of firing anyone.
“The Miss America Organization Board of Directors today voted to suspend Executive Chairman and CEO Sam Haskell,” the board said.
“Mr. Haskell, in support of the organization, has agreed to abide by the board’s decision. 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.”
Haskell is one of seven men on the 16-member board — and holds the highest-ranking role, raking in $500,000 per year.
On Twitter, former winner Kate Shindle predicted Haskell will drive the organization into the ground if he’s allowed to stay.
“Frankly, I have learned over last two decades that there will be people who will take down the whole ship rather than relinquish control,” Shindle, crowned in 1998, told The News.
“We want to take back Miss America from board members and CEOs who are more interested in passing nasty comments around about women’s weight than empowering young women through scholarship and service,” Shindle said.
Haskell said Friday that he accepted the board’s decision to suspend him, but he is not resigning, saying that his “mistake is a mistake of words.”
He also attacked the release of the embarrassing messages.
“Much of what was reported is dishonest, deceptive, and despicable. The material is based on private emails that were stolen three years ago by ex employees. The story is so unkind and untrue, and hurts me, my family, and the stewardship of this nonprofit,” he said.
“Those who know my heart know that this is not indicative of my character, nor is it indicative of my business acumen,” Haskell said. “I was under stress from a full year of attacks by two Miss Americas, and while I don’t ever want to offer an excuse, I do want to offer context.
“I have the utmost respect for the women of this program and contestants at every level. It breaks my heart for anyone to think otherwise.”