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20/08/2018
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Updated 4:55 PM; Posted 3:54 PM
Heather Whitestone McCallum, at left, and Suzette Charles, at right, are among a group of 19 former Miss Americas who want Gretchen Carlson and Miss America leaders to resign. The pageant is set to air from Atlantic City on Sept. 9. (Michael Loccisano | Getty Images; Tim Hawk | For NJ.com)
By Amy Kuperinsky akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Two former Miss Americas appeared on TV Monday morning to speak out against Gretchen Carlson, amplifying efforts to dethrone her from the pageant leadership.
Suzette Charles, a former Miss New Jersey who became Miss America for a short time after Vanessa Williams resigned in 1984, and Heather Whitestone McCallum, Miss America 1995, criticized Carlson and pageant leaders on NBC's "Megyn Kelly Today."
Last week, Charles, Whitestone McCallum and nine other former Miss Americas signed a petition that called for resignation of Carlson -- the chairwoman of the Miss American board, who was Miss America 1989 -- as well as pageant CEO Regina Hopper (a former Miss Arkansas) and the Miss America board of trustees.
On Friday, the reigning Miss America, Cara Mund, went public with allegations she had been bullied and silenced by Carlson and the pageant's CEO, Regina Hopper. Carlson issued a statement on Sunday denying Mund's claims and has now come under fire for blaming the 24-year-old former Miss Dakota for the loss of what would've been a $75,000 increase in scholarship money at the pageant.
Fmr. Miss America Winners Speak Out Amid Controversy About The Pageant's Leaders | Megyn Kelly TODAY
Charles, who hails from Mays Landing, rejected the notion that Mund, who is a graduate of Brown University, should be blamed for the loss of the $75,000.
"I've had some background on Gretchen," Charles said. "Gretchen has been bullying a long time."
"Gretchen is a mother," she continued. "What would she do if her own daughter were being bullied like that?"
After Carlson assumed leadership of the pageant in January following an email scandal that ousted the former CEO, she appointed Charles to be Miss America's liaison to Atlantic City. At the time, the pageant, tainted by scandal, was in danger of losing its funding from the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, but Miss America was able to secure $4.3 million for the coming pageant. Now, efforts to oust Carlson have been billed as a way to "save Miss America."
Charles told Kelly that five people have resigned from the Atlantic City office of the pageant during the conflict with executives. Departing board members this summer have included Kate Shindle, Miss America 1998, who grew up in Brigantine and Moorestown and signed the petition calling for the leadership to resign. As of Monday, the petition has drawn the support of 19 former Miss Americas and claimed 18,781 signatures.
One of Mund's main complaints, expressed in a five-page letter to former Miss Americas, is that Carlson did not include her in major interviews, like the one she gave ABC in June to announce the end of the swimsuit competition. Charles, who claims that Carlson "paid $10,000" on media training for Mund (which she said she didn't need), doesn't understand why Carlson wouldn't want Mund to be the public face of the pageant.
"She hasn't given her any chance to speak," she said.
"I was really angry when I read about that," said Whitestone McCallum, who became the first deaf Miss America in 1994. "It was not right."
Mund claims that pageant executives gave her three talking points: To stress the relevancy of Miss America, to emphasize that Carlson attended Stanford University and hammer home the notion that "the #MeToo movement started with a Miss America, Gretchen Carlson." (#MeToo, which picked up speed after the Harvey Weinstein allegations surfaced in 2017, was actually founded by Tarana Burke in 2007.)
The pageant queen said she got the message: "There will be only one Miss America at a time, and she isn't me."
In 2017, Carlson emerged as a strong #MeToo voice, having sued former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment the year before and having written "Be Fierce," a book about harassment and workplace equality. After Carlson filed her lawsuit, Megyn Kelly, then still at Fox News, claimed that Ailes had also harassed her and encouraged others at Fox to come forward and talk about their experiences with the network boss.
"You are at the epicenter of a very historic moment for women," Carlson told Mund, replying to her letter. "Over the past two years, our country has undergone a seismic shift in how professional women are depicted and treated. Cara, you have the opportunity to be at the forefront of real, positive change for young women across this country. I am so hopeful you'll be a part of that."
Critics of the move to drop the swimsuit competition have claimed that Carlson was trying to use the momentum of #MeToo to force the change. But Carlson and Hopper say the whole board voted on the issue. Still, critics claim board members were led to believe the pageant would not air unless swimsuits were banished.
"The #MeToo movement had nothing to do with the Miss America Organization," said Whitestone McCallum. (In December, the former pageant CEO's emails were shown to contain misogynistic comments about former Miss Americas.)
Suzette Charles
@SuzetteVCharles
It’s a disgrace what has happened to #StandWithCara harrassment is not acceptable
9:53 PM - Aug 19, 2018
9
See Suzette Charles's other Tweets
Among the latest titleholders to call for Carlson and Hopper's resignation is Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015.
"It's been a tumultuous eight months and it must change starting now," Kazantsev, 27, said in a statement on Monday. She said Hopper and Carlson had allowed the situation to "fester and get perilously close to the point of no return."
Shortly after her crowning in 2014, Kazantsev faced allegations that she had hazed students while in college. At the time, she denied this while admitting she participated in a broader culture of hazing at Hofstra University. But she cautioned fellow titleholders in their criticism of Carlson and Hopper:
"On the subject of bullying, while many of you out there are condemning Gretchen and Regina, you have also done the exact same thing you accuse them of by referring to them as expletives, posting mean spirited and nasty comments, awful photos, and even death threats."
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