Gretchen Carlson and Other Ex-Miss Americas Call Upon Pageant CEO to Quit

Gretchen Carlson and several other former Miss Americas have called upon the pageant’s CEO and other organizers to resign after leaked emails show them disparaging former winners in vulgar fashion. HuffPost on Thursday published the emails from Miss America Organization CEO Sam Haskell, in which he referred to 2013 Miss America Mallory Hagan as “huge and gross” and mocked her as sexually promiscuous; joked about wishing 1998 Miss America Kate Shindle had died instead of another ex-winner; and calling Gretchen Carlson, Miss America 1989, a “snake” for not blacklisting Shindle from her Fox News show. “I am shocked and deeply saddened by the disgusting statements about women attributed to the leadership of the MAO,” Carlson tweeted in response to the news. “No woman should be demeaned with such vulgar slurs. #ResignNow.” Shindle added that “the entire Board of Directors must immediately resign, including and especially Sam Haskell.” Hagan, too, tweeted, using the hashtag “#FireSamHaskell.” The organization, however, has said Haskell apologized, thereby rendering the “matter closed.”