Gretchen Carlson Named Chairwoman of the Miss America Organization

By A.J. Katz 

When derogatory emails from Miss America CEO Sam Haskell came to light 11 days ago, former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson was one of the most high-profile former Miss Americas who called for him to leave the organization.

Well, Carlson, Miss America 1989, has been voted in as the next Miss America Organization board chairwoman.

The Miss America Organization announced on the first day of 2018 that the Miss America board had voted Carlson, a former board member herself, in along with several other former Miss Americas who will also join the board. Carlson becomes the first former Miss America to preside over the pageant in this particular role in the 100-year history of the Miss America Organization.

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“Everyone has been stunned by the events of the last several days, and this has not been easy for anyone who loves this program,” Carlson said in a statement obtained by HuffPo. “In the end, we all want a strong, relevant Miss America and we appreciate the existing board taking the steps necessary to quickly begin stabilizing the organization for the future.”

Dan Meyers, interim chairman of the board, also said that most board members had resigned. The exodus of leadership was sparked by a series of expletive-laced emails in which Haskell name-called Miss America contestants, referring to them as “c–ts,” among other insults.

We all know Carlson’s back story when it comes to facing sexual harassment, and now her work to combat it. In July 2016, she sued late Fox  News CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment, and Ailes resigned from Fox News two weeks after the lawsuit was filed. Carlson would earn a $20 million settlement and a public apology from 21CF in September 2016.

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