A pair of former Miss Americas from Arkansas are among 49 winners of the pageant who signed an open letter calling for a change in leadership after emails surfaced showing organization officials attacking and disparaging former winners.
The women’s letter came one day after a Huffington Post investigation revealed a slew of internal emails, including one exchange in which lead telecast writer Lewis Friedman joked about a winner's weight, suggesting she could have a career as a parade blimp. After he proposed that future scripts call the women by a derogatory term for female genitalia, CEO Sam Haskell replied, "Perfect...bahahaha."
Lamenting the “sickening and egregious words used by Miss America leadership,” the 49 women condemned “ongoing efforts to divide our sisterhood” and called for the resignation of four top pageant officials, including Haskell and Friedman.
“We stand firmly against harassment, bullying and shaming — especially of women — through the use of derogatory terms meant to belittle and demean,” they wrote. “As Miss Americas, we strongly reject the mischaracterizations of us both collectively and individually.”
Savvy Shields, a student at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville who won the Miss America Pageant in 2016, was the most recent winner to add her name to the letter. In a Facebook post praising former Miss Americas who had “championed empowerment of women everywhere,” the Fayetteville native explained her own decision to sign.
“I stand in support of these brave women who have competed and volunteered in this organization and I stand against all forms of degradation, shaming, and disrespecting women,” she wrote. “The last 24 hours have been heartbreaking, but knowing this organization is so much bigger than the people who lead it gives me great hope for its future.”
Elizabeth Gracen, an Arkansan who won the competition in 1982, also signed her name to petition. Neither she nor Shields responded to requests for comment.
“I am proud to stand with them,” Gracen wrote on her Facebook account. “Change is in the air!”
Hours after the 49 women released their letter, the Miss America Organization announced that its board of directors had voted to suspend Haskell while it conducted an “in-depth investigation into alleged inappropriate communications.”
"My mistake is a mistake of words," Haskell wrote in a statement Friday night after news of his suspension broke. "Much of what was reported is dishonest, deceptive, and despicable.”
About 1,600 state and local titleholders, contestants and pageant volunteers joined the former Miss America winners in calling for change at the Miss America Organization.
“The leaders of this organization can not degrade the values that Miss America represents,” Shields wrote. “Leadership is not a position or a title, it is action and example.”