ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. _ With the Miss America competition itself searching for a new home, the battle for the future of entire storied institution has landed in court.
Miss America board chair Gretchen Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper "orchestrated an illegal and bad faith takeover" of the Miss America Organization, imperiling the nearly 100-year institution, the lawsuit, a copy of which was sent to the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, contends.
Named as plaintiffs in the 35-page suit are four state organizations, including the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Organization, and ousted MAO board member Jennifer Vaden Barth, a former Miss North Carolina, who has been outspoken in her opposition to the current leadership of the organization.
Vaden Barth organized a Go Fund Me account that has raised more than $40,000 for the court effort.
The iconic Atlantic City institution will no longer receive millions in subsidies from the state of New Jersey and has been shopping around its competition to other cities with a Request for Proposals seeking significant financial resources and other perks, including a comped Presidential Suite for Carlson, the former Fox News host and 1989 Miss America who took over the organization and has vowed to modernize it.
Carlson and Hopper eliminated the swimsuit competition, which upset many of the more traditionalists who have been loyal to the organization. They further cut ties with several of the state organizations that spoke out against them, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The lawsuit's other plaintiffs are the state organizations from Tennessee, West Virginia and Georgia.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs accuse the leadership of mismanaging finances, misleading officials about the future of its telecast and "disseminating blatant mistruths ... manipulating the rules and disregarding established laws," in addition to the bylaws of Miss America itself "to suit their own personal purposes," and agendas, including Carlson's promotion of the #metoo movement.
"Carlson used the rules when it (was) convenient, and ignored them when it (was) an impediment," the lawsuit says.
"This is the first step in restoring the integrity and credibility of Miss America, which has been a cultural icon since 1921," Vaden Barth said in a statement.
A second statement issued by a representative of the state pageant organizations said a temporary restraining order had been issued that would prevent further action against state organizations by the Miss America Organization.
The lawsuit dates the current crises to the publication of now-infamous emails by the former leadership of Miss America disparaging former titleholders in vulgar and sexist terms. That led to the takeover by former Miss Americas, but it has been Carlson who has maintained the strongest grip on the struggling organization.
