Miss America CEO Sam Haskell Resigns With Other Top Brass Amid Leaked Email Scandal

Three Miss America Organization leaders have resigned following an email scandal in which vulgar, offensive language was used to describe former Miss America contestants, USA TODAY confirmed Saturday.

The resignation of executive chairman and CEO Sam Haskell, who was suspended from the organization Friday as he was put under investigation, will be effective immediately, according to a statement from interim chairman Dan Meyers.

The board further accepted the resignation of chairman Lynn Weidner along with president and COO Josh Randle. The two will remain in their current positions for several more weeks in order to “facilitate a smooth transition,” according to Meyers’ statement.

Miss New York Mallory Hagan reacts as she is crowned Miss America 2013 in Las Vegas. (Photo: Isaac Brekken, AP)

The organization said its board of directors accepted Randle’s resignation Saturday “in light of recent events and new developments.”

The Miss America Organization was rocked following the release of internal emails published on the Huffington Post Thursday. The published messages showed offensive language Haskell used to describe 2013 Miss America Mallory Hagan — describing her as “fat and gross” in one note.

In another released exchange from August 2014, Haskell received an email that said Hagan’s hairdresser had been commenting on Hagan’s sex life, as well as her recent weight gain.

Haskell forwarded the email to Miss America telecast lead writer Lewis Friedman and noted, “Not a single day passes that I am not told some horrible story about Mallory.”

Friedman replied, “Mallory’s preparing for her new career … as a blimp in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. As she continues to destroy her own credibility, her voice will attract less and less notice while she continues her descent to an unhappy pathetic footnote.”

Friedman ended the email with, “P.S. Are we four the only ones not to have (slept with) Mallory?”

Haskell replied, “It appears we are the only ones!”

Miss America CEO Sam Haskell is shown with Miss America 2017 Savvy Shields. (Photo: Thomas P. Costello)

Haskell had been suspended pending the investigation and released a statement Friday saying, “Much of what was reported is dishonest, deceptive, and despicable. The material is based on private emails that were stolen three years ago by ex-employees. The story is so unkind and untrue, and hurts me, my family, and the stewardship of this non-profit.”

Hagan was among dozens of former Miss Americas who signed a petition started Friday by Miss North Carolina Jennifer Vaden Barth calling on the group’s leadership to step down. The petition called the emails by Haskell and others “despicable” and faulted officials who “sat by without objection while such derisive comments were passed around.”

The Huffington Post reported that on Jan. 25, 2015, Haskell forwarded a photo of Hagan with three other former Miss Americas to Randle and said, “Look at MH in this photo…OMG.”

Randle reportedly replied, “She’s a healthy one!! Hahaha.”

Randle told The Associated Press Saturday his comment responding to an email to his private account about Hagan’s physical appearance came months before he started working for the Miss America Organization in 2015. But he said it was wrong.

“I apologize to Mallory for my lapse in judgment,” Randle said. “It does not reflect my values or the values I worked to promote at the Miss America Organization. Although this terrible situation was not caused or driven by me, in light of recent events and new developments, I am no longer willing to continue in my capacity as president and earlier today offered my resignation to the MAO Board of Directors.

“I feel terrible, but this is the right thing to do,” he said.

Randle said his resignation was voluntary and had not been requested by the board of Miss America, which is based in Atlantic City. In May, Randle became the youngest president of the Miss America organization in its history at age 29.

Haskell joined Miss America’s board in 2005 after retiring from the William Morris Agency (now called WME), where he was the worldwide head of television.