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Ex-Miss California Prejean, pageant settle lawsuit


By Staff, City News Service

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 6 comments  |  read comments  |  post a comment
San Diego: FILE - In this April 26, 2009 file photo, Miss California USA Carrie Prejean listens to a question at the Rock Church during services in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

FILE - In this April 26, 2009 file photo, Miss California USA Carrie Prejean listens to a question at the Rock Church during services in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean and pageant officials announced today they settled dueling lawsuits in which the San Diego native alleged she was stripped of her crown because of her religious beliefs.

The 22-year-old beauty queen sued the pageant’s co-executive directors, Keith Lewis and former Miss USA Shanna Moakler, as well as pageant publicist Roger Neal, on allegations of libel, slander and religious discrimination in Los Angeles Superior Court in August. The pageant then countersued Prejean in October, asking to be reimbursed for her breast implants. ‘

“Carrie Prejean, Keith Lewis and K2 Productions have dropped their claim against each other and wish each other the best in their future endeavors,” a joint statement announcing the end of the litigation reads.

No details on the terms were divulged. Prejean was fired in June for allegedly missing scheduled appearances and for showing up at ones that were not approved by pageant officials.

But Prejean maintained she was removed because of controversial remarks she made in April during the Miss USA pageant after being questioned by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton about gay marriage. Prejean responded that she believed marriage should only be between men and women.

“No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised,” Prejean said. The suit was the second in 16 months to be filed against Lewis by a former Miss California.

In April 2008, Christina Silva sued him after she was stripped of her title due to a vote-tabulation error by pageant officials. Silva, a Latina, maintained she was the victim of racial bias. She dropped her suit in February.

City News Service wrote and edited this story.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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Comment by: Gene B. Posted: November 3, 2009, 4:36 pm

If there’s going to be any kissing and making-up, I’d like to be involved.

Comment by: Who Cares Posted: November 3, 2009, 4:41 pm

This was much ado about nothing other than garnering publicity for the pageant and Ms. Prejean. It’s nice that they kissed and made up. Hope this is the last time we hear about either.

Comment by: Cuauhtémoc Q Kish Posted: November 3, 2009, 8:43 pm

The only kissing I’d be involved in with Prejean, is for her to kiss my …. Let’s hope she becomes Sarah’s running mate in 2012.

Comment by: Gene B. Posted: November 4, 2009, 12:26 am

Hey, Kish…perhaps Ms. Prejean will be Obama’s running mate in the next presidential election since they hold similar views on gay marriage!

According to an article in ‘Lesbian Life’, which stated…”Although Barack Obama has said that he supports civil unions, he is against gay marriage. In an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune, Obama said, “I’m a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.”

Sound familiar?! It sure makes it hard to paint one side as evil and the other side as virtuous when those pesky quotes get in the way.

Comment by: SOcal88vHS Posted: November 4, 2009, 11:58 am

I went to Vista High School with Ms. Prejean and that girl on stage was not the Carrie I went school with. She was a mean girl then and she still is I guess only now she has a boob job, a fake tan, and a pretty good dye job. Only god can judge and until he comes down and gives me his job i will not judge anyone, let them marry who they want and lets all stop trying to be the next rush limbaugh one is enough to suck up all the air anyway.

Comment by: Gene B. Posted: November 4, 2009, 2:16 pm

I took no position on the gay marriage issue in my post and, in fact, I don’t personally care one way or the other. I merely wanted to illustrate how our perceptions are manipulated by the tone and spin imparted by the so-called professional journalists in our country. Nearly identical answers to the gay marriage question, and yet one person is villified while the other is held up as the epitome of hope and change. Ironic, no?

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