Miss America CEO Sam Haskell resigns with other top brass amid leaked email scandal

Executive Chairman and CEO Sam Haskell, President and COO Josh Randle and Chairman Lynn Weidner have all stepped down after internal emails were published showing Miss America contestants described with vulgar and offensive language.

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

The resignation of its Executive Chairman and Chief Executive, 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 Chief Operating Officer Josh Randle. The two will remain in their current positions for several more weeks to "facilitate a smooth transition," according to Meyers' statement.

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 Thursday on Huffington Post. 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 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.

askell had been suspended pending the investigation.

"Much of what was reported is dishonest, deceptive, and despicable," he said in a statement released Friday. "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, which Miss North Carolina 1991 Jennifer Vaden Barth started Friday, calling on the group's leadership to step down. The petition called the emails from Haskell and others “despicable” and faulted officials who “sat by without objection while such derisive comments were passed around.