Former Miss Americas call for resignations of pageant officials after email attacks revealed

Reporting from Atlantic City, N.J. —  Some former Miss Americas who were attacked in emails from the pageant’s CEO are calling on him and other organization leaders to resign.

Three former title holders who were targeted for abuse in emails to and from Miss America Organization Chief Executive Sam Haskell say the group’s leadership needs to be replaced.

The appearance and sexual habits of Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013, were mocked in the emails, which were sent three to four years ago.

Pageant officials wrote that when one former Miss America died, they wished it had been a different former Miss America instead. They also mocked former winner Gretchen Carlson, who won the title in 1989

The Huffington Post reported Thursday on the correspondence, which it said it received from two sources. A spokesperson for the Miss America Organization said in a statement Friday that it had learned of the emails “several months ago” and launched an investigation immediately.

Hagan said, “My hope is that this story that broke will bring light to the type of behavior that’s been in leadership of the Miss America Organization and really help us put in place some people who care and who embody the mission of Miss America. Having somebody bully you, demean you, degrade you in any way is not OK.”

In other emails, a former writer for the pageant notes the death of one former Miss America, and muses that he wished it had been 1998 Miss America Kate Shindle who had died instead. Shindle wrote a book critical of the Miss America Organization.

Haskell responded to the email, indicating it made him laugh. He also responded to an email from the writer that used a vulgar term for female genitalia to refer to former Miss Americas by indicating he found it amusing.

“The entire board of directors must immediately resign, including and especially Sam Haskell,” Shindle wrote on Twitter, adding the content of the emails “makes me physically ill.”

An investigator conducted “a series of in-depth interviews as well as extensive research that led to several recommendations … ,” the Miss America Organization spokesperson said. As a result, one of the people involved in the exchanges, from the TV staff, was terminated.

“Although strictly intended for private communication, these illegally procured emails contain inappropriate language that is unbecoming at best and is not, in any way, indicative of the character and integrity of MAO or its representatives,” the spokesperson said.

Haskell — who the spokesperson said was “under unreasonable distress resulting from intense attacks on his family from disgruntled stakeholders” — also wrote of tactics that would drive Carlson “in … sane.” She had clashed with Haskell and pageant officials over her push to modernize the organization and her refusal to attack other former winners, HuffPo reported.

Carlson wrote on Twitter that any board member or official who tolerated such conduct should resign immediately.

“No woman should be demeaned with such vulgar slurs,” she wrote.

The Miss America Organization said Thursday night that Haskell has apologized, and that the group is revising its policies regarding communications, adding that it considers the matter closed.

Haskell did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

The emails have cost the pageant its television production partner and raised questions about the future of the nationally televised broadcast from Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall the week after Labor Day each year. Dick Clark Productions told the Associated Press on Thursday night that it found the content of the emails “appalling” and had cut ties with the Miss America Organization.

The Huffington Post article said Haskell and others directed considerable attention to Hagan. He forwarded an email he had been sent regarding Hagan to a writer for the pageant, who has since been terminated.

The writer responded by questioning whether he and Haskell were part of a tiny group of people who had not had sex with Hagan.

“It appears we are the only ones!” Haskell replied, according to the Huffington Post.

Hagan, a former Miss New York, said Friday on NBC’s “Today” that she wasn’t shocked by the emails; rather, she felt validated.

“For the longest time, I’ve tried to explain to people around me that this is happening or these things are being said. And to have the ability to look on paper and say, ‘See, I told you. This is what he’s been saying about me’ ... I felt validated in my feelings for the last couple of years.”