GRETCHEN CARLSON: MISS AMERICA’S CLAIMS COST PAGEANT $75K

N.J.» Miss America ATLANTIC CITY, chairwoman Gretchen Carlson has struck back against the reigning Miss America, saying Cara Mund’s allegations that Carlson and others bullied her have led to a loss of $75,000 in scholarship money for this year’s contestants.

In a Twitter post late Sunday night whose authenticity was verified by the Miss America Organization, Carlson, the former Fox News host, wrote that she was “surprised and saddened beyond words” by Mund’s letter on Friday complaining of how she has been treated during her nearly one-year reign as Miss America.

In her letter addressed to former Miss Americas, Mund wrote that she has been bullied, manipulated and silenced by the pageant’s current top leadership, headed by Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper. Both have denied bullying Mund.

“Actions have consequences,” Carlson wrote, addressing herself directly to Mund. “Friday, as an organization, we learned that $75,000 in scholarships which would have been the first scholarship increase in years is no longer on the table as a direct result of the explosive allegations in your letter.”

The Miss America Organization told The Associated Press earlier this month it hopes to hand out at least as much this year as it did last year, approximately $500,000.

“The accusation of Cara being responsible for losing a $75,000 scholarship is wrong and completely uncalled for,” Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015, wrote in a statement. — The Associated Press