Author Topic: Vanessa Williams gets Miss America apology -- 32 years later  (Read 12887 times)

BayGBM

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Vanessa Williams gets Miss America apology -- 32 years later
« on: September 15, 2015, 06:31:15 AM »
Vanessa Williams gets Miss America apology -- 32 years later
By Holly Yan

Actress and singer Vanessa Williams returned to the Miss America stage Sunday night, three decades after she became the first black woman to win the crown but resigned following a nude photo scandal.

Now, after all these years, the Miss America CEO apologized to Williams on stage Sunday at the Miss America 2016 pageant for the way the scandal was handled.

"I have been a close friend to this beautiful and talented lady for 32 years," CEO Sam Haskell told Williams. "You have lived your life in grace and dignity, and never was it more evident than during the events of 1984 when you resigned...

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/14/entertainment/miss-america-vanessa-williams-apology-feat/


But why are they apologizing?  Did pageant organizers do something wrong by taking away her crown in 1984?  I do not think so.  I am not a fan of beauty pageants and the message they send to young women, but assuming you want to play the pageant game of being pretty, wholesome, America’s sweetheart, blah blah blah . . . why would you expect to hold that crown knowing that you had lesbo inspired pornographic photos in circulation?  While I do not have any problem with the lesbian influence, and believe that pornography has its place, I do not think that place is on the stage of a beauty pageant in 1983 or in 2015.  You know what you are signing up for when you go down the road to be a beauty contestant: a pretty wholesome image, a role model to young girls, a representation of middle American values, etc.  Middle America does not want someone with porno photos in circulation as a role model. 

I wish Vanessa well.  I have seen her in a few movies… I still listen to her music. While the apology was heartwarming—especially in front of her mother—the real “perpetrator” here is still Vanessa.  Why did she put herself (and her mother) in the position of being publicly humiliated by competing for a title like Miss America knowing she had taken photos like that?  Yes, we all make mistakes when we are young, but you do not follow a “mistake” like that by going after a Miss America crown, because you know how public it is and the likely outcome if/when your porno past comes to light.