Carrie Prejean will not lose her Miss California crown, Donald Trump announced in a press conference on Wednesday. He was responding to controversy over whether Prejean violated her Miss California contract, with modeling photos and an ad supporting traditional marriage.
“She has taken a lot of abuse from people who shouldn’t be handing out abuse. But she is tough, she’s smart and she’s very beautiful, and that’s why she’s Miss California,” Trump said.
Miss California pageant co-directors Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler have publicly expressed their disapproval of Prejean’s support for homosexual marriage. “Her message was dividing us rather than bringing us back together,” Lewis, who is a homosexual, said on Tuesday.
At the press conference, Trump invited Perez Hilton to judge in next year’s Miss USA pageant. He was the judge who asked the same-sex marriage question in this year’s competition and later called Prejean unprintable names. Hilton prompted accepted via Twitter.
Sitting next to Trump on Wednesday, Prejean paid an emotional tribute to her grandfather, who fought in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest battle in American history.
“He did speak about the freedom he fought for, and taught me to never back down, and never let anyone take those freedoms away from you,” Prejean said.
“I exercised my freedom of speech. And I was punished for doing so,” she said.
Prejean is claiming a heritage earned on the battlefield — and one that many Americans, judging by the response to the Miss USA controversy, are determined to keep.
