After a series of leaked ribald emails rocked the Miss America Organization (MAO), CEO Sam Haskell and other top executives are resigning Saturday.
“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 wrote in a statement released on Twitter Saturday.
“The Board of Directors also accepted the resignation of Chairman Lynn Weidner. At the Board’s request, Ms. Weidner has agreed to remain on the Board for up to ninety days to facilitate a smooth transition for the [Miss America Organization] to new leadership,” the statement added.
An email dump covering three years describes a toxic campaign of ridiculing former beauty queens by former CEO Haskell and others. The correspondence, obtained by The Huffington Post, is a long litany of personal insults directed against former pageant winners, including one who was condemned for being too fat and accused of sexual promiscuity.
Former 2013 Miss America Mallory Hagan is pilloried in one email as looking like a “blimp in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade” based on a picture of Hagan at the beach where she appears a few pounds heavier than her svelte competition weight. After he was asked “are we four the only ones not to have fucked Mallory?” Haskell suggested, “It appears we are the only ones!”
In another entry from Aug. 2014, Haskell is telling writer Lewis Friedman that he wants to change the way that past beauty queens are described:
“I have decided that when referring to a woman who was once Miss America, we are no longer going to call them Forever Miss Americas….please change all script copy to reflect that they are Former Miss Americas!”
Friedman suggests, “I’d already changed “Forevers” to “Cunts.” Does that work for you?”
Apparently it does as Haskell shot back, “Perfect…bahahaha.”
Haskell was apparently in a constant war with former Miss America and then-Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who, according to Huffington Post sources, was unwilling to attack her Miss America alumni.
Carlson commented on the controversy Thursday in an email to the Huffington Post, “As a proud former Miss America and former member of the Board of the Miss America Organization, I am shocked and deeply saddened by the disgusting statements about women attributed to the leadership of the MAO.”
Since the story broke, MAO and its corporate partner, Dick Clark Productions, have commented on the language in the emails. While MAO insisted it “does not condone the use of inappropriate language and apologizes for the situation,” Dick Clark Productions announced it was “terminating” its relationship to MAO in a statement to the Huffington Post.
For his part, Haskell promised to release a statement on Friday.