Miss America Organization Split by #MeToo Era Swimsuit Decision - WSJ

Nearly half of Miss America’s board has quit or been forced to resign in the wake of the organization’s decision to eliminate the swimsuit competition from the contest, and 22 state pageant leaders are seeking to oust Chairwoman Gretchen Carlson over concerns about the pageant’s new direction.

Ms. Carlson, a former Miss America and an early leader in the #MeToo movement, announced on June 5 that Miss America was dropping the swimsuit and evening-gown competitions and replacing them with an extended onstage interview. She said it was important to make women’s voices heard during a “cultural revolution in our country.”

Some former directors and state pageant heads said they felt pressured by Ms. Carlson and other executives to choose to end the swimsuit competition or risk having the pageant not being broadcast on television.

When asked for Ms. Carlson’s comment, the Miss American Organization said in a statement that no binary choice between swimsuit and a television deal was ever posed.

The TV broadcast is of critical importance to the pageant as it generates a significant amount of the organization’s revenue. The organization has long been on precarious financial footing, with a net loss of $575,000 in 2016—the latest available figures—on revenue of $9.8 million, according to federal filings.

The elimination of the swimsuit competition is testing the ability of a nearly 100-year-old institution to adapt to a fast-changing culture. Miss America started as a swimsuit competition in 1921, at a time when it was considered modern and liberating for women to pose in bathing suits.

Many volunteers who run the state and local competitions that lead up to Miss America said the change has been disorienting.

The change has also divided the close-knit group of former Miss Americas, 29 of whom released a Saturday statement supporting Ms. Carlson and her team. But dozens of others didn’t sign on, said Ericka Dunlap, Miss America 2004. “This much dissension clearly means that we need to make some major changes or we will not have Miss America,” she said.

The Miss America Organization said in a statement Saturday that the March vote to eliminate the swimsuit portion was unanimous. It said the deal with ABC was finalized in January, two months before the vote.

Miss Tennessee pageant’s co-executive director Allison DeMarcus said she and other state pageant directors were told on a late March conference call with longtime Miss America board member Regina Hopper before the vote that no television partner would want to be associated with a swimsuit competition, given the sensitivities of the #MeToo era. Ms. Hopper became the organization’s chief executive in May.

In a follow-up email to another state director reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Miss America board member Jessie Bennett said “we don’t have any production company or television partner that is open to continuing swimsuit. Regina mentioned that on the call.”

In the Saturday statement, the Miss America organization said “it is patently false to allege that Miss America representatives claimed that the elimination of the swimsuit competition was a prerequisite to airing the telecast on ABC.” However, the organization said there were “extensive production company and creative partner negotiations in which the elimination of swimsuit was noted as a prerequisite to partner with [the Miss America Organization].”

A spokeswoman for ABC said it already had a broadcast deal and it “had nothing to do” with the swimsuit decision.

“It’s been hard for everyone to move on,” said Ms. DeMarcus, a television host and one of the leaders of a petition drive to oust Ms. Carlson, Ms. Hopper and all board members. “It’s not about whether swimsuit is a category or not a category, but because of the mistrust.”

Two members of the nine-person board, former Miss Americas Kate Shindle and Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss, quit in late June, citing a lack of governance and a toxic culture, according to a joint post explaining their decisions on a private Facebook page for former titleholders and state directors.

In the same post, two other members, former Miss North Carolina Jennifer Vaden Barth and former Miss Maine Valerie Crooker Clemens, said they were forced to resign by the board, which executed a pre-written resignation letter they had submitted when they were originally named interim members. Ms. Barth and Ms. Clemens said the resignation letters should no longer have been enforceable since they were subsequently elected as full board members.

In a response on the same page, Ms. Carlson and the remaining board members said the former members had tried to wrest control of the organization. The former members had denied doing so in their post.

The remaining board members also said in their post that the letters signed by Ms. Barth and Ms. Clemens were validly enforced.

Ms. Carlson, a former Fox News anchor, helped launch the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment two years ago, when she sued former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, saying that he retaliated against her because she rebuffed his unwanted advances.

Mr. Ailes, who died last year, denied the allegations. The lawsuit set in motion an investigation that led to his ouster.

21st Century Fox , the Fox News parent company, reached a $20 million settlement with Ms. Carlson and apologized in a statement for the fact that she wasn’t treated with the respect she deserved. Fox and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.

Ms. Carlson, a former Miss America board member, was a leading voice pushing for the ouster last year of former Chief Executive Sam Haskell and the resignation of most board members after leaked emails showed Mr. Haskell made crude remarks about Ms. Carlson and other former titleholders.

Mr. Haskell apologized for some lapses in judgment but said the emails were stolen from him and misrepresented by his critics.

The current turmoil at the Miss America Organization comes as state queens crowned in May and June are preparing for September’s nationwide pageant with new judging criteria just released Thursday.

At the Miss Texas competition in suburban Dallas last weekend, three former Miss Texas winners—serving as emcees—wore T-shirts designed to look like swimsuits.

“If we don’t have swimsuit, we’re leaving out a vital part of Miss Texas and Miss America,” said Dana Rogers Martin, Miss Texas 1983. “It’s about fitness and nutrition. I’m hoping it will come back.”

Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/miss-america-organization-split-by-metoo-era-swimsuit-decision-1531047601