Herbalist Dr MziziMkavu
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 3, 2009
- 42,319
- 33,125
Ex-Miss California says there is campaign to silence her: Nothing is private
Eric Jamison / APThen-Miss California USA Carrie Prejean answers a question about same-sex marriage during the Miss USA Pageant last April. On Tuesday Prejean alleged a campaign to try to silence me for the answer that I gave at the pageant.
View related photos
Nov. 10: Former Miss California Carrie Prejean tells TODAYs Meredith Vieira she regrets making a sex tape and discusses her new book.
Today show
#poptext_TDY_Prejean_Timeline { position:relative;width:297 } .appTDY_Prejean_Timeline { } .labelTDY_Prejean_Timeline { undefined } .hedTDY_Prejean_Timeline { font-size: 19px; font-family:arial; font-weight:bold;color:#26386b;border-top:1px solid #a4abc1;border-left:1px solid #a4abc1;border-right:1px solid #a4abc1;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 100%;font-weight:bold;padding-left:4px;background-image:url("http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/ColorBoxes/Styles/ColorBoxImages_GlobalOnlyPlease/bg_ltbluegrey.gif");width:90%;height:25px; } .deckTDY_Prejean_Timeline { color:#666;font-weight:bold; font-family:verdana; font-size:11px;padding:5px 9px; } .subhedTDY_Prejean_Timeline { font-weight:bold;text-decoration:none;text-transform:uppercase;padding:3px 3px; } .colhdrTDY_Prejean_Timeline { color:ffffff; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold;background-color:999999; } .font1TDY_Prejean_Timeline { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 70%; line-height: 140%; } .boxB_TDY_Prejean_Timeline { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 70%; line-height: 140%;;border-left:1px #a4abc1 solid;border-bottom:1px #a4abc1 solid;border-right:1px #a4abc1 solid; ;width:100%; } .headlineTDY_Prejean_Timeline { font-weight:bold; } .headlineTDY_Prejean_Timeline:hover { } .headlineTDY_Prejean_Timeline:visited { font-weight:bold;} .captionTDY_Prejean_Timeline { undefined} #NoBg { background-color:transparent; } .navlinkTDY_Prejean_Timeline { color:000000;font-size: 10px;font-family:verdana;line-height: 130%;text-decoration:none; } .navlinkTDY_Prejean_Timeline:hover { color:cc3333; } .navlinkTDY_Prejean_Timeline:active { color:#cc0000; } .navCellTDY_Prejean_Timeline { width:20px;text-align:center;background-color:#EEEEEE;border-left:1px #CCCCCC solid;border-top:1px #CCCCCC solid;padding:2px;cursor:hand;width:100%; } .bulletTDY_Prejean_Timeline { color:CC0000;font-family:verdana;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;color:cc3333; }
The ex-Miss California controversyTimeline: Carrie Prejean's Dec. 22, 2008
Carrie Prejean is crowned Miss California USA. After she wins the title, and before she represents her state at the Miss USA pageant, Miss California USA officials pay for Prejeans breast-enhancement surgery.April 19, 2009
Prejean finishes first runner-up at the Miss USA pageant broadcast live from the Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. She raises the ire of judge Perez Hilton by stating her opposition to same-sex marriage. Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton is crowned Miss USA.April 20
Perez Hilton blisters Prejean on his blog and calls her a vulgar name.April 26
Kristen Dalton, now the new Miss USA, defends Prejean's statement on same-sex marriage during an interview with TODAY's Al Roker.April 27
Prejean gets a heros welcome at The Rock Church, an evangelical mega-church in suburban San Diego. She tells the congregation that she was pressured by Miss California pageant officials not to discuss her Christian faith and to apologize for her statements on same-sex marriage.April 30
Prejean tells TODAYs Matt Lauer she will continue to fight for traditional marriage. She also confirms that she has filmed an ad for the National Organization for Marriage and has agreed to be a spokesperson for the group. Miss California officials release a statement criticizing her for becoming so deeply involved in a divisive and polarizing issue.May 1
Miss California pageant officials confirm that they paid for Prejeans breast-enhancement surgery.May 4
The gossip site thedirty.com publishes one photo of Prejean posing topless in pink panties and says it has five more photos in the set. Prejean is shown covering her breasts with her arm in the photo.May 5
Prejean issues a statement defending the photo. She says she was 17 when they were taken and that they are from a model shoot.May 6
Pageant officials cite rules prohibiting Miss California from posing nude or semi-nude and from representing outside organizations and say they are discussing whether to strip Prejean of her crown.May 11
At a Beverly Hills press conference, Miss California USA officials say it's up to Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump whether or not Prejean should be stripped of her crown.May 12
At a press conference, Donald Trump announces that Prejean will retain the title of Miss California USA. He also commends her for speaking her mind about same-sex marriage during the Miss USA Pageant.May 13
On TODAY, Prejean admits there might be more racy photos of her; Trump defends his decision. Meanwhile, Miss California pageant co-director Shanna Moakler resigns from her post, saying that she had lost faith in the organization because of Trump's decision to let Prejean keep the crown.June 10
Carrie Prejean is stripped off her Miss California title less than a month after Donald Trump announced she would retain it, and commended her for speaking her mind about same-sex marriage. The Miss California USA organization cited Prejeans unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of them, in violation of her contract, and said that they had Trumps approval in terminating her.June 12
Two days after being stripped of her title, Carrie Prejean disputes pageant director Keith Lewiss claim that she failed to meet her contractual obligations as Miss California, saying that she was instead fired for her stand on same-sex marriage at the Miss USA pageant. "I'm here talking to you because of the answer I gave on that stage," she tells TODAY's Matt Lauer.July 20
Prejean inks a book deal with conservative book house Regnery Publishing. Her memoir will be called "Still Standing" and will tell her side of the story, according to the publisher.Aug. 31
Prejean sues pageant officials for libel, slander and religious discrimination, accusing them of telling her to stop mentioning God even before her controversial remarks against gay marriage.Oct. 19
The franchise that operates the Miss California organization countersues Prejean.Nov. 3
After a Prejean "sex tape" surfaces, Prejean drops her suit and settles with pageant officials, who reportedly paid her $100,000 to go toward her legal expenses. Nov. 10
Prejean appears on TODAY and defends the recently surfaced erotic video of her as a youthful indiscretion. She also says negative things about pageant owner Donald Trump and discusses her book, "Still Standing."
Print this
This all-American beauty beat out 50 other girls for the coveted crown.
more photos
They may be beautiful, but the competition can get ugly. From blackmail to sabotage, check out the underside of the pageant circuit.
more photos
June 12: Two days after her title was revoked, former Miss California Carrie Prejean talks with TODAYs Matt Lauer about the controversies that have surrounded her.
Today show
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 10:05 a.m. ET Nov. 10, 2009
Former Miss California Carrie Prejean on Tuesday defended a recently surfaced erotic video of her as a youthful indiscretion and questioned whether it could actually be called a sex tape since no one else appears in it.
It was me by myself. There was no one else with me. I was not having sex, the controversial beauty queen told TODAYs Meredith Vieira in New York.
Prejean admitted to making the video of herself and sending it to her boyfriend when she was 17 years old. The tape surfaced during a negotiating session with the Miss California pageant officials over a lawsuit Prejean filed against the organization for stripping her of her crown earlier this year. When the tapes existence was revealed, Prejean dropped her suit and settled with the officials, who reportedly paid her $100,000 to go toward her legal expenses.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here <script language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N1243.unilevermsn/B3931353.4;abr=!ie;sz=300x250;dcopt=rcl;click0=http://wrapper.g.msn.com/GRedirect.aspx?g.msn.com/2AD00013/52000000000013812.1?!&amp;&amp;PID=6594061&amp;UIT=G&amp;TargetID=8331374&amp;AN=1781661948&amp;PG=NBCSMX&amp;ASID=f7f83ca306844a3ba29ee319ba871bf0&destination=;ord=1781661948?"> </script>
Nothing is private
You can call it whatever you want to call it. If you want to call it a sex tape, thats fine, Prejean told Vieira. I sent it to my boyfriend at the time. I was a teenager. I cared about him. I trusted him, she added. I think now they call it sexting.
Did I think it would come back now and haunt me? No. But I think that a lot of young people can learn from this. Nothing is private anymore. Nothing is private.
Prejean, dressed in a deep blue blouse, black skirt and spike heels and wearing a small silver cross around her neck, also said that pageant owner Donald Trump conducted a sort of private pageant with contestants, hand-picking the best-looking women to go into the finals, even before the judges made their decisions.
Prejean admitted that making the video of herself and sending it an act that other teens have been prosecuted as sex offenders for doing was a bad decision.
It was the biggest mistake of my life, she told Vieira.
Campaign against me
Prejean was on TODAY to talk about her just-published book, Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate and Political Attacks. And even before admitting that making the video was a mistake, she accused her enemies of using it to attempt to silence her.
The main point is there has been a campaign against me to try to silence me for the past seven months for the answer that I gave at the pageant, she said.
She was referring to April 19 and the finals of the Miss USA pageant, when celebrity blogger Perez Hilton asked her opinion of same-sex marriage. Prejean cited her Christian beliefs in saying she believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Hilton responded later by calling her a dumb b---h.
May 13: TODAYs Matt Lauer talks to Donald Trump and Carrie Prejean about the controversy over her racy pictures and views on gay marriage.
Today show
Prejean would finish second in the pageant, and she said she was punished for exercising her right to free speech. She cited the same enemies when racy photos of her later emerged: one showing her dressed in just panties with her back to the camera, another showing her with her breasts exposed.
Donald Trump, the owner of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, saved Prejeans Miss California crown. But she soon lost that, too, when pageant officials accused her of not meeting her contractual obligations. Prejean then sued, accusing pageant officials of libel, slander and religious discrimination, alleging that she was dismissed for her religious beliefs. The pageant countersued, demanding that she pay them back for the breast enhancement surgery they paid for.
Im still standing
Prejean told Vieira she remains convinced that everything thats happened to her is because of her beliefs.
The biggest thing and the reason I wrote this book is Americans believe their beliefs are under attack, and this is proof, she told Vieira, adding that the sex tape is another example of what her enemies will do to attack her.
May 12: Carrie Prejean gives an impassioned speech after learning she will retain her crown.
MSNBC
All I know is there is a campaign against me trying to silence me, Prejean said. They tried to embarrass me. They tried to humiliate me. They tried to attack me. And Im still standing.
The book, she said, is her way of telling her side of the story.
Americans heard only bits and pieces of what really happened, Prejean said. I think that there is a liberal bias in the media, and its unfortunate that conservative women are attacked for their beliefs. Its unacceptable and it shouldnt happen. So many Americans are frustrated. So many Americans believe that their beliefs are under attack, and they should be silent and free speech doesnt exist.
Prejean specifically mentioned Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBCs Countdown, who has recently criticized her for what he calls her hypocrisy.
There is an extreme double standard that conservative women are under attack for whatever it is, Prejean told Vieira. If Sean Hannity went out there and said some of the things that Keith Olbermann has said about me, if he says anything about [Sonia] Sotomayor, Michelle Obama, he would be off the air. Why is there this double standard? Thats the reason why I wrote this book.
No one is perfect
In the book, Prejean talks about her Christian beliefs and condemns the ubiquity of pornography. Young women should resist the pressures of popular culture, of sex, she said, writing, Our bodies are temples of the Lord. We should earn respect and admiration for our hearts, not for showing skin to look sexy.
April 21: Carrie Prejean and Perez Hilton each comment on her controversial reply about same-sex marriage.
Today show
Vieira said that Prejean has been accused of hypocrisy for that statement in light of the racy photos and the video she made.
Im a model. I was in a beauty pageant. If people want to call me a hypocrite, thats their prerogative. But Ive learned from my mistakes. No one is perfect, Prejean replied.
Vieira also asked about Trumps doing his own prejudging of the contestants.
Prejean said that Trump chose the hottest contestants and sent them to one side of the stage. Her story confirms an August report by Miss Universe choreographer Michael Schwandt, who told the Web site Guanabee that Trump hand-picked six of the 15 finalists in that pageant.
We were so excited to meet The Donald, Prejean said. He shook our hands. He asked us, How do you feel about so-and-so? or Who do you think is the most beautiful woman up here? Some of the girls were on the right side and some of the girls were on the left, and those that were on the left were devastated. Theres a lot in this book that a lot of people dont know goes on behind the scenes in pageants. Its not all what it seems to be.
They may be beautiful, but the competition can get ugly. From blackmail to sabotage, check out the underside of the pageant circuit.
more photos
Trump declined to comment on Prejeans allegations.
Despite all that has happened, Prejean would not condemn beauty pageants, nor would she advise other young women not to enter them.
I have learned so much and Ive grown so much. There have been so many great experiences, she told Vieira. I wouldnt be here today had it not been for the pageant.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33823079/ns/today-today_people/
