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Reuters

The head of the organisation that stages the Miss America beauty pageant and other members of the group resigned on Saturday after a report this week claiming that emails he had sent were derogatory towards past winners.
Sam Haskell’s resignation as executive chairman and chief executive of the Miss America Organisation was accompanied by the departure of the organisation’s president, the chairman of the board and a board member.
Haskell had been suspended on Friday, one day after a Huffington Post report about the internal emails.
The pageant has for years faced criticism that it objectifies women, and the scandal over the emails has led to renewed scrutiny of the annual event in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“This afternoon, the board of directors of the Miss America Organisation accepted the resignation of Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sam Haskell, effective immediately,” Dan Meyers, interim chairman of the board, said in a statement.
Lynn Weidner, chairman of the 96-year-old organisation’s board, also resigned but will stay on the board for up to 90 days to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership, Meyers said.
Josh Randle, president and COO, is also stepping down but will stay in his position temporarily, a Miss America Organisation spokesman said.
On Friday, board member Tammy Haddad said she was following through on her plan to resign immediately.
Haddad in emails referred to past Miss America winners as “malcontents” and suggested hiring an investigator to look into the activities of one former winner, the Huffington Post reported.
A representative for Haskell did not return emails on Saturday seeking comment. Weidner, Haddad and Randle could not be reached for comment.
A representative for ABC, the division of Walt Disney that broadcasts the pageant, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Haskell, in a statement accompanying his suspension on Friday, said the emails cited by the Huffington Post were “conveniently edited”.

“I was under stress from a full year of attacks by two Miss Americas, and while I don’t ever want to offer an excuse, I do want to offer context,” Haskell said.
Reuters has not obtained the emails cited by the Huffington Post.
In some emails, Haskell was demeaning of previous winners of the pageant, calling one woman “huge” and “gross” and commenting on her sex life in emails he sent in 2014 and 2015, according to the Huffington Post.
Haskell made the derogatory comments about the former pageant winner’s weight in response to an email from Weidner, who attached a photo of several former Miss Americas but did not comment on the picture herself, the news website said.
Randle, responding to a 2015 email in which Haskell had written demeaningly about the former pageant winner, wrote, “she is a healthy one!” the Huffington Post reported.
Randle, in a statement to The New York Times, said he was not working at the Miss America Organization when he replied to the email and that he had apologised to the former pageant winner for his “lapse in judgment”.


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United States

Miss America CEO, others resign after report of derogatory emails

Miss North Dakota Cara Mund reacts after being named Miss America during the Miss America 2018 pageant on September 10, 2017. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: Contestants await the results after competing in the swimsuit component of the 97th Miss America Competition in Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S., September 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mark Makela/File Photo

(FILES) This file photo taken on January 27, 2010 shows suspended CEO of the Miss America Organization Sam Haskell III speaking during a news conference for judges in the 2010 Miss America Pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Miss America pageant suspended its CEO on Friday after dozens of former beauty queens demanded he step down over leaked internal emails that contained misogynistic, fat- and slut-shaming language. The decision was announced in the face of mounting pressure in the media as the United States continues to grapple with a sexual harassment firestorm upending powerful men from Hollywood, to entertainment and politics. / AFP PHOTO / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Ethan Miller

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