Contestant: Miss America pageant tried to silence me as a rape survivor

Miss America 2020
Charles Krupa | AP

Camille Schrier, Miss Virginia, won the Miss America pageant on Dec. 19 at Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut. The same night, Miss District of Columbia, Katelynne Cox, accused the pageant of trying to silence her.

By Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The 2020 Miss America crown went to Virginia pharmacy student Camille Schrier, 24, who performed a science experiment as her talent.

At the pageant, broadcast by NBC on Thursday, Morgan Nichols — Miss South Carolina — wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “STRONGER" with her formal attire. And women interviewed for the “job” of Miss America in a departure from the swimsuit and evening gown struts of yore.

All of these details were in keeping with the “Miss America 2.0” goal of modernizing the pageant and making it relevant in 2020.

However, one contestant, Katelynne Cox, has accused the Miss America Organization of attempting to block her from saying she is a rape survivor. The move would seem to run counter to the pageant’s stated mission to empower women.

“Now they are trying to silence me more with intimidation,” Cox, Miss District of Columbia, tells NJ Advance Media. “It’s heartbreaking that even 40 minutes into a phone call with MAO, no one apologized once."

A spokesman for the Miss America Organization said the pageant would make a statement addressing Cox’s allegations, but several days after first being asked, the organization still had not issued that statement.

Cara Mund - Miss America 2018
@CaraMund
Your voice matters! Truth will always prevail!