Miss America CEO Resigns After Disparaging Emails Revealed

The Miss America CEO and Executive Chairman Sam Haskell has resigned from the organization after HuffPost reported that he regularly disparaged pageant winners in emails. Along with Haskell, Chairman Lynn Weidner also resigned from the organization but will stay on the Board of Directors for up to 90 days to ensure a smooth transition.

"The Board thanks Lynn and Sam for many years of tireless work for, and significant financial support to, both the Miss America Organization and thousands of young women who received millions of dollars of educational scholarships from the Organization as a direct result of their efforts," Dan Meyers, interim chairman of the organization's board, said in a statement.

Three years of emails reviewed by HuffPost revealed that Haskell reportedly regularly wrote and responded to unprofessional, offensive emails about the women. According to HuffPost, Haskell regularly maligned, fat-shamed and slut-shamed former Miss Americas. According to the HuffPost report, Weidner and another board member, Tammy Haddad, aided Haskell's behavior.

Among the women targeted in the emails was Gretchen Carlson who won the title in 1989. According to HuffPost, the board did not like Carlson's push to modernize the organization and her refusal to attack former pageant winners. Carlson sued Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes in the summer of 2016 for sexual harassment, which led to his ouster from the cable news channel.

Other emails reported by HuffPost revealed that Haskell commented on a former Miss America's weight, calling her "huge and gross." In one exchange, Haskell replied to an email from Lewis Friedman, the lead writer of the Miss America pageant telecast, in which Friedman asked whether they were the only ones who had not had sex with a former Miss America, HuffPost reported.

Read the original HuffPost story here.

Patch will update this report.

Photo by Mel Evans, File/Associated Press