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The Miss America pageant has undoubtedly been an invaluable part of American culture throughout the years. Every year, women from all around the country come together to take part in this prestigious event that has been going on for decades now. While the pageant was solely developed to bring out the beauty and brains that these women possess, it has managed to lose its relevancy in the current years owing to the numerous scandals that it has encountered.
The toxicity that goes on behind the screen has managed to come to light to the audiences through several participants and judges in recent years. However, the issue has certainly not been acted upon.
Several cases of racism, discrimination, and abuse in the pageant industry still manage to come out from time to time, even though they're not paid much attention to. Now, the upcoming A&E miniseries, titled Secrets of Miss America, which premieres on Monday, July 10, 2023, promises to blow the whole thing wide apart.
A&E released the official synopsis of the series on their YouTube channel, which reads:
"Secrets of Miss America delves into the long-kept secrets of America’s oldest beauty pageant, exposing the shocking scandals at its core. A cultural event once viewed by 80 million people a year, the pageant now struggles to stay relevant to a new generation of Americans whose views on beauty and sexual politics have changed drastically over the past few decades."
It continues:
"The special analyzes whistle-blower leaked emails in 2017 exposing misogyny within the Board of Directors, claims of racism in the pageant’s history, the topic of mental health surrounding the competition, and the banning of the controversial swimsuit competition."
The series will feature interviews with more than 20 former Miss Americas, who will share their story of how the pageant physically and mentally exhausts a person and how their win influenced a whole generation of pageant traditions.
Miss America: 5 biggest controversies in the history of beauty pageant
1) The Miss America Protest of 1968
The 41st Miss America Pageant, which was held on September 9, 1967, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, managed to stir quite the outrage among its female viewers. The pageant, which was hosting its finale at the time, became the center of a dramatic protest as hundreds of women from the New York Radical Women's Group surrounded the Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey.
The women spoke out against the "demeaning" pageant and expressed their disgust regarding how the pageant essentially objectifies women and packages them as "pretty objects" upon which the American audience places bets. The members of the organization went as far as burning makeup, bras, and footwear into a so-called "freedom" trash. They also crowned a sheep - an action that they claimed symbolized freedom from the societal expectations of women.
The 1968 pageant garnered a global audience of 85 million due to the protest, which was going on outside the hall. While many expected the pageant not to address the protest, Debra Barnes talked about it in her speech upon winning the Miss America pageant. She claimed that she did not take offense to the fact that the activists were claiming that the pageant wasn't respected and instead talked about its importance to young women.
The protest is still to this date labeled as an important event in the feminist movement in America, inspiring thousands worldwide to speak out against the pageant's commodification of women.
The pageant moving forward garnered much hate from the audience as the feminist movement was now in full swing in America. It became a general opinion that the participants were devaluing themselves and were almost verging on prostitution by selling themselves for entertainment.
As a result, this extreme reaction by the audience forced the pageant committee to organize certain segments in the annual pageants that would bring to light more personal details about the women, including their talents and qualifications.
2) Miss America 1984 Vanessa Williams had to give up her title
Incredibly talented singer, actor, and dancer Vanessa Williams was once at the center of a shocking scandal that occurred during her modeling days. Williams, who initially gained recognition for winning the 1984 Miss America pageant and becoming the first African-American woman to achieve the feat, was shockingly made to give up her crown.
The decision from the managing committee of the pageant was taken when nude photos of Williams surfaced in Penthouse magazine. The photos dated back to when Williams used to work as a photographer's assistant. Described by her as one of the lowest moments of her life in numerous television appearances, Vanessa Williams was made to forfeit her title.
Although Williams went on to become incredibly successful in the future, the event was highly criticized by global audiences. The topic was talked about decades after the incident, so much so that at the 2016 Miss America pageant, Miss America CEO Sam Haskell invited Williams on stage to apologize to her publicly on behalf of the organization. Haskell apologized by saying:
"I have been a close friend to this beautiful and talented lady for 32 years. You have lived your life in grace and dignity, and never was it more evident than during the events of 1984 when you resigned. Though none of us currently in the organization were involved then, on behalf of today's organization, I want to apologize to you and to your mother, Miss Helen Williams."
He continued:
"I want to apologize for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less than the Miss America you are and the Miss America you always will be."
3) CEO Sam Haskell steps down after shocking emails were leaked
Pageant CEO Sam Haskell was forced to step down from his duty in December 2017 after HuffPost leaked some emails of Haskell that were addressed to his coworkers. In those emails, Haskell had reportedly used some misogynistic language about the participants of the Miss America pageant, often referring to the women as "snakes" and "c***ts".
He also had made particularly demeaning and disparaging comments about contestant Mallory Hagan, who eventually went on to win the pageant. He had speculated about her s*x life in the emails and had often mocked her for her weight. After his eventual resignation, Hagan commented in an interview with the New York Post that she felt "validated."
4) Bette Cooper disappears after winning Miss America Pageant
Miss America 1937 winner Bette Cooper shockingly disappeared after winning the title. Cooper, who reveals to have entered the competition as a dare by her friends, had certainly not expected to win the competition. Rather, she had reportedly fallen for her chauffeur Louis Off, who helped her escape her hotel in the middle of the night by a motorboat and invited her to his house.
Cooper failed to show up for her first media appearance the next morning, leading to much backlash from the audience. Upon pressure from the pageant committee, she had to forcefully make halfhearted media appearances. However, she couldn't keep the facade for much longer as she stopped making public appearances altogether and shifted to Connecticut, where she focused on her education.
5) Miss South Dakota Shantel Krebs paves the way for a new Miss America
Upon being named the Chairperson for the Miss America Organisation, former Miss South Dakota Shantel Krebs claimed, in an interview with New York Post, that the talent competition in the pageant would be like "Shark Tank." She said that instead of focusing on talents that the participants had been showing for the last few decades in dancing, singing, and music, it would now focus more on their knowledge and education.
Krebs' claim was perhaps the reason that year's winner was Camille Schrier, a biochemist who did something that had not been done in Miss America's history earlier. She came out to perform a science experiment and elaborated on her knowledge of the subject, impressing judges and audiences all around the world.
This talent was in an attempt to just show that the pageant was keeping up with the trends of the 21st century and removing the ideas in society that the pageant promoted only the beauty of women.
TV miniseries Secrets of Miss America premieres on July 10, 2023, at 10 pm ET, exclusively on A&E.
