February 8, 2010 2:39 PM
- Text
Miss Calif. Keeping Crown -- For Now
(CBS)
Officials of the Miss California USA pageant strongly criticized some of the actions of titleholder Carrie Prejean Monday but they didn't take away her title.
Co-executive directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler told a press conference that only Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump can make that decision. He plans a news conference Tuesday morning in New York.
The officials said Prejean has been "unavailable" and so in the meantime they have appointed the state pageant's runner-up, Tami Farrell, as a "Beauty of California Ambassador" to fulfill any duties the winner normally would handle.
Lewis said that if Trump allows Prejean to retain her crown, state pageant officials would welcome her back and encourage her to take part in her normal duties.
Prejean, 21, of San Diego, created controversy during the Miss USA pageant when she answered a judge's question by saying she believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
The state pageant has been investigating whether she violated her contract by making public appearances with groups opposed to same-sex marriage. Prejean also failed to reveal that she posed in her underwear as a teenager.
Moakler said that women entering the pageant are given documents that require full disclosure, but they do not say that any disclosure will make the person ineligible.
Lewis said the state pageant has never criticized Prejean for her beliefs, but he added that Miss California USA must represent everyone in the state.
On The Early Show Monday, Miss Rhode Island, Alysha Castonguay, said she sees the remarks opposing same sex marriage as the main factor that could cost Prejean her crown. Prejean finished as runner-up in the Miss USA competition.
Castonguay -- who herself had semi-nude photos published in Maxim magazine --- photos she says were even racier than the ones helping to land Prejean in hot water -- says the one issue is "definitely" more equal than all the others hanging over Prejean.
"I think it's from the (anti-same-sex marriage) answer she gave that night onstage," Castonguay told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "And, you know, I think everybody needs to be prepared to hear both ways that that question could have been answered. It was her opinion. And you have 51 individuals that compete for Mss USA. It's not Miss Robot USA. It's Miss USA. So, you have to be expected, if you ask that question, to get that answer both ways."
The racy pictures of Prejean probably aren't a factor in Prejean's fate, Castonguay said, noting, "Those pictures weren't published. If those pictures were never published of me in Maxim I don't know if I would have came forward with them, you know, and let them know that there were pictures out there. I wouldn't have thought that they would ever be published."
Chelsea Cooley Altman, who was Miss USA 2005, told Rodriguez the breast implants Prejean had and that the Miss California pageant helped pay for shouldn't be in focus. "When you have a state director," Altman said, "they really go out of their way to do whatever they can to prepare the girls to their best ability (for the Miss USA competition). "They don't promote having surgical implants of any kind. But if a title holder comes to them expressing the need and it's something that they genuinely desire, then the state director, I can imagine how they would want to go out of their way to help her, if this is something that she came to them for. I don't think it's something they went to her about. So I don't really think there's an issue there."
Co-executive directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler told a press conference that only Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump can make that decision. He plans a news conference Tuesday morning in New York.
The officials said Prejean has been "unavailable" and so in the meantime they have appointed the state pageant's runner-up, Tami Farrell, as a "Beauty of California Ambassador" to fulfill any duties the winner normally would handle.
Lewis said that if Trump allows Prejean to retain her crown, state pageant officials would welcome her back and encourage her to take part in her normal duties.
Prejean, 21, of San Diego, created controversy during the Miss USA pageant when she answered a judge's question by saying she believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
The state pageant has been investigating whether she violated her contract by making public appearances with groups opposed to same-sex marriage. Prejean also failed to reveal that she posed in her underwear as a teenager.
Moakler said that women entering the pageant are given documents that require full disclosure, but they do not say that any disclosure will make the person ineligible.
Lewis said the state pageant has never criticized Prejean for her beliefs, but he added that Miss California USA must represent everyone in the state.
On The Early Show Monday, Miss Rhode Island, Alysha Castonguay, said she sees the remarks opposing same sex marriage as the main factor that could cost Prejean her crown. Prejean finished as runner-up in the Miss USA competition.
Castonguay -- who herself had semi-nude photos published in Maxim magazine --- photos she says were even racier than the ones helping to land Prejean in hot water -- says the one issue is "definitely" more equal than all the others hanging over Prejean.
"I think it's from the (anti-same-sex marriage) answer she gave that night onstage," Castonguay told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "And, you know, I think everybody needs to be prepared to hear both ways that that question could have been answered. It was her opinion. And you have 51 individuals that compete for Mss USA. It's not Miss Robot USA. It's Miss USA. So, you have to be expected, if you ask that question, to get that answer both ways."
The racy pictures of Prejean probably aren't a factor in Prejean's fate, Castonguay said, noting, "Those pictures weren't published. If those pictures were never published of me in Maxim I don't know if I would have came forward with them, you know, and let them know that there were pictures out there. I wouldn't have thought that they would ever be published."
Chelsea Cooley Altman, who was Miss USA 2005, told Rodriguez the breast implants Prejean had and that the Miss California pageant helped pay for shouldn't be in focus. "When you have a state director," Altman said, "they really go out of their way to do whatever they can to prepare the girls to their best ability (for the Miss USA competition). "They don't promote having surgical implants of any kind. But if a title holder comes to them expressing the need and it's something that they genuinely desire, then the state director, I can imagine how they would want to go out of their way to help her, if this is something that she came to them for. I don't think it's something they went to her about. So I don't really think there's an issue there."
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