Salon.com > Carrie Prejean

Palin, Prejean: Beastly treatment for beauties

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:05:00 +0000

Anybody who expects this column to lampoon beauty-pageant contestants has another think coming. Last time I made a satirical thrust in that direction, two women whose friendship I treasure coolly informed me they'd been Rodeo Queens of their respective county fairs. Did I have a problem with that?

Absolutely not. Indeed, during a sojourn at an excruciatingly correct liberal arts college, I once reacted to a campus newspaper crusade against the sin of "lookism" by urging students to contemplate "The Iliad." The oldest narrative in the Western literary tradition (circa 1500 B.C.), and what's it about? An overrated jock named Achilles, and Helen, a troublemaking beauty, aka "the face that launched a thousand ships."

So no, it didn't start at your high school, this business of hunks and cuties getting too much attention. It's human nature. Nor will it end with the ritual humiliation of Republican sex symbols Carrie Prejean and Sarah Palin.

Carrie Prejean threatens to storm off “Larry King Live”

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:13:00 +0000

For about 30 seconds during this video of Carrie Prejean on "Larry King Live," I felt a twinge of sympathy for the gay marriage-opposing, sex tape-making, boob job loan-defaulting dethroned beauty queen-cum-author. King presses her to explain why she chose to settle with the Miss USA pageant, rather than move forward with her lawsuit against them (and their countersuit against her), and she says there's a confidentiality agreement that prohibits her from speaking about it. Larry's all, "But surely, that can't stop you from telling us why you chose to settle!" and she's all, "Confidential. Don't wanna talk about it. Move on, jerk." (I paraphrase.) They repeat that basic exchange a couple of times. And at this point, I am firmly on team Prejean -- her previous comments about Sarah Palin's awesomeness and everything else, ever, aside -- because it really doesn't matter whether she can legally answer the question or not; she's made it abundantly clear she won't. Occasionally, badgering a recalcitrant interviewee can be a slick journalistic move, when said interviewee is actually an important personage hiding something worth digging for. But when she's a conservative beauty queen whose 15 minutes should have been up months ago, nobody really cares, and relentlessly pursuing the same question just makes you look like a bully who can't roll with the punches. "Larry, you're being inappropriate," Prejean keeps repeating, and while that's not necessarily the word I'd use, I can respect her for refusing to take the bait.

The celebrity sex tape jumps the shark

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:45:00 +0000

The once-scandalous celebrity sex tape took its fatal jump over the shark this week, after gay-marriage-opposing, famously breast-implanted author and Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean confirmed the existence of a naughty tape of herself.

The tape came to light last week, when TMZ.com reported that the dethroned Miss California abruptly dropped her suit against pageant officials after a video of the self-described "prude" enjoying a little solo pleasure emerged. TMZ reported today that Miss Prejean's mother has been treated to a viewing of this private tape -- she was allegedly present when California pageant officials trotted out their proverbial ace in the hole.

Flogging her book "Still Standing" on the "Today" show this morning, Prejean brushed off the term "sex tape." She described the footage as "me by myself, there was no one else with me. I was not having sex," failing to consider that "me by myself" qualifies as sex for roughly 80 percent of the Internet population.

Ex-Miss Calif. admits making sex tape

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean calls a sex tape she made for an ex-boyfriend several years ago "the biggest mistake of my life."

Prejean (pray-ZHAHN') told Fox News on Monday and NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday that she shot the X-rated video of herself alone when she was 17 and sent it to a boyfriend.

The 22-year-old tells NBC: "It was for private use, but does that justify what I did? No. It was the biggest mistake of my life."

Prejean was fired in June. She believes she lost her crown because of her opposition to gay marriage. Pageant organizers said she was skipping official events.

Earlier this month, Prejean and organizers reached a confidential settlement. She tells NBC that she has suffered "a campaign against me to try to silence me."

Carrie Prejean sued over boob job

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:40:00 +0000

Ex-Miss California Carrie Prejean is being taken to court ... over her breasts. K2 Productions, the organizer of the Miss California USA pageant, is suing the dethroned beauty queen for failing to pay back a $5,200 loan for a boob job. She elected for the plastic surgery to make her "more competitive" at the Miss USA pageant (and perhaps it did make her more competitive, but of course it didn't save her from losing in April after voicing her personal opposition to same-sex marriage).

The complaint filed Monday goes after more than just her implants, staking additional claim to the proceeds from her book, and accusing her of "missing events" and "using her title without authorization to help promote the National Organization for Marriage's 'campaign of intolerance' against gay marriage," reports New York Daily News. It also takes issue with the semi-nude shots that surfaced during the Miss USA scandal: Prejean swore she was a minor in the photos and claimed she hadn't posed for any other raunchy snapshots -- but K2 Productions alleges she was of age in the shots and that far more explicit photos of Prejean exist and could surface at any moment. In other words: There is still more to come from this salacious spectacle.

Please, say it isn't so. If a lawsuit over breast implants isn't the ugliest this scandal can get, I'm not sure I can handle what's next.

Town hall protesters are just like former Miss California

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:01:00 +0000

We can all learn something from former beauty queens. Like, say you want to talk about healthcare reform on national television. Who better to bring in than Carrie Prejean, the controversial former Miss California who lost her crown earlier this year? That's what Fox News host Sean Hannity did on Friday.

In his defense, Hannity didn't bring Prejean to ask for her thoughts on the relative merits of the public option versus a co-op system or even the dreaded single-payer. Instead, he compared her situation -- she's become a hero on the right for her answer on same-sex marriage at the Miss USA pageant, and conservatives believe the left attempted to silence her -- to the controversy over protests at healthcare town halls.

It's very interesting in one sense, you were almost like the first casualty in this battle of somebody speaks out in America today, oh, they want to jump all over you," Hannity said. Later, he added, "Maybe this is a good lesson, because the people that — the Democrats are calling angry mobs like all these angry mobs are all around here. But maybe this will be an inspiration, because now there's an effort to intimidate people at these town hall meetings and silence them. And maybe people can learn from your lesson."

Now that's service journalism.

“God knows, and we know, the truth about Carrie”

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:11:00 +0000

You didn't think the Carrie Prejean story would die that easily, did you? No, it was only a matter of time — a few hours, really — before the good-time conservatives at the National Organization for Marriage cried foul. NOM has issued the following dramatic statement in defense of Prejean, who famously appeared in one of its ads attacking gay marriage, and who it insists is being robbed, robbed we say:

"Hollywood hates Carrie. First they abuse her, then they try to get her to recant, then they threw mud, and now they are doing what they wanted to do from day one: Get rid of Carrie.

"This cover story about a contract dispute doesn’t pass the smell test. Americans aren’t fooled that easily. God knows, and we know, the truth about Carrie: She’s a young woman of great beauty who chose truth over the glittering tiara that Hollywood offers," said Brian Brown, Executive Director for NOM. "Of course they will try to punish her, but we know she will be fine in the end, because her values are in the right place."

"Hollywood will dance its tribal war dance over her body — the hatred generated against her has been extraordinary — but Carrie will be free to define her own mission and message from now on. Congratulations," stated Maggie Gallagher, President for NOM.

Adieu, Carrie Prejean

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:12:00 +0000

Sometimes, beauty queens don't get fired for topless photos, or speaking out against gay marriage, or their tussles with Perez Hilton, or any of the various tabloid controversies they generate. Sometimes they just get fired for not showing up to work.

At least that seems to be the case with Carrie Prejean, who was canned today, according to TMZ, for being a "no-show" and for "violating her contract by not getting clearance to do her extracurricular stuff." Sounds like somebody was sneaking out of the house without telling dad.

Why Miss California is just like President Obama

Tue, 12 May 2009 22:05:00 +0000

The press conference at which Donald Trump announced that Carrie Prejean will keep her crown as Miss California was largely what you'd expect -- and not in a good way.

But both Trump and Prejean each made one good point when they took the podium: The beauty queen's position on same-sex marriage, which is what started the firestorm of controversy surrounding her, isn't substantively different from President Obama's. He, too, publicly opposes same-sex marriage, favoring civil unions instead.

Conservatives have been having quite a bit of fun with Obama's stance on marriage, gleefully pointing out that Prejean isn't the only one who says the only marriage should be "opposite marriage." This is one reason why LGBT activists aren't happy with Obama's position on the matter -- it makes it much harder to criticize their opponents, who can simply throw the popular president back in their face.

Why I’m starting to feel for Miss California

Thu, 07 May 2009 17:09:00 +0000

Reuters/Steve Marcus

Miss California Carrie Prejean, left, responds to a question about gay marriage with Billy Bush during the Miss USA Pageant.

She's got fake boobs. She's posed for pictures in just her underpants and, it appears, lied about it. Her remarks on "opposite marriage" suggest she may not be doing much to dispel the myth of the dim bulb blonde. Carrie Prejean, I'm starting to feel for you.

Train wreck that she is, she's the woman of the moment, the representation of all we love, loathe, fear and desire. She's the goody goody, the beauty queen, the topless model, the "dumb bitch," the would-be porn star. And the public fascination and outrage about her says a whole lot more about us than about Miss Prejean herself.

You may remember that Prejean, better known as Miss California, livened up the moribund world of beauty competition last month during the Miss USA pageant when she told pageant judge Perez Hilton that, "no offense," she believed matrimony should be between a man and a woman. After weeks of scorn and celebrity, Prejean has now helpfully provided her public with a racy past.

Here she is, Miss Marriage Martyr USA

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:12:00 +0000

Miss California, who came in second in the Miss USA pageant on Sunday night, now says that her stance on same-sex marriage -- she's opposed -- cost her the crown.

Broadsheet readers will recall that at the pageant, celebrity judge and self-described "queen of all media" Perez Hilton asked contestant Carrie Prejean if other states should follow the lead of Vermont, which recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage.

In her answer, Miss California's coined the phrase "opposite marriage" to describe the kind of union she finds acceptable: "I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be, between a man and a woman." Video is here.