The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Signs brand Miss America boss as ‘So Fake’
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Signs appeared around Atlantic City Thursday criticizing Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the Miss America Organization, as “so fake” and a bully hours before the second night of preliminary competition was to take place.
Hung from traffic lights and glued to a utility box, signs appeared Thursday morning. They turned up as bus stops, as well. No one had taken responsibility for putting them up.
They reference claims from the outgoing Miss America, Cara Mund. Mund said Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper bullied and silenced her during her reign, which ends Sunday.
Carlson, the former Fox News host and a former Miss America, did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but both women have repeatedly denied bullying Mund.
The signs appear to parody Carlson’s book “Be Fierce.” They include the same photo of her that appears on her book cover, but with the words “So Fake” and “private bully, public liar.”
In addition, someone hung a pageant sash on the Miss America statue outside Boardwalk Hall, where the competition takes place, that reads “Gretchen Sucks.”
This year’s pageant is taking place amid a revolt by state organizations, most of which want Carlson and Hopper to resign; 46 of the 51 groups (the District of Columbia is included) have signed letters seeking their resignation.
They are unhappy with the way the decision to eliminate the swimsuit competition from the pageant was reached, among other issues.