Logo

People, TVWeek

Gretchen Carlson Responds to Claims She Bullied Miss America

Aug 20, 2018  •  Post A Comment

After the reigning Miss America, Cara Mund, lashed out at the organization’s leadership alleging she has been bullied, manipulated and silenced, as we reported Friday, the head of the pageant issued a strong denial of Mund’s claims.

Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News personality who now chairs the Miss America Organization, told People she was “incredibly sad and heartbroken” to read the open letter released Friday by Mund criticizing the organization.

People quotes Carlson, who won the Miss America pageant in 1989, saying: “I want to be clear that as a proponent of women my entire life, I have never bullied Cara Mund. We have supported Cara for her entire year and we will continue to support her. It’s just disappointing that she chose to air her grievance publicly and not privately.”

Mund’s letter singles out Carlson and Miss America CEO Regina Hopper, accusing them of “disrespect, passive-aggressive behavior, belittlement, and outright exclusion,” the report notes.

Commenting on being Miss America, Carlson told People: “It’s the toughest job you will ever have. Every Miss America could tell you if they wanted to about the ups and downs of their year. I could. But you realize as more time passes what an amazing opportunity you have been given to serve as a role model and an ambassador for our country and to make a difference.”

5 Comments

  1. Old Gretchen is the biggest loser of all time.

  2. I believe the accusations

  3. I have re-read Gretchen’s reply multiple times and I just don’t see where she responded to the specific charges leveled by Cara Mund. Instead of identifying ways to mitigate the situations Mund alludes to, Carlson just kind of white washes them. (“Commenting on being Miss America, Carlson told People: “It’s the toughest job you will ever have.”) There are probably millions and millions of Americans that would disagree with that statement. A good executive would have apologized for anything that Mund thought was wrong and stated she will do everything that she could to make sure a future Miss America doesn’t ever feel the same way. If she had don’t that, Mund’s comments would have been old news within a few days. This BS statement by Carlson will just keep the issue in the news for a longer period of time.

  4. As an age old resident of the Atlantic City area it’s hard to believe we are looking at scwabbles like this over an event that was designed to be an extension to the Sumer season. They are imploding the event from within. What other town would want this event in the future with all this baggage?

  5. Beauty pageants. Hmmph…these still happen?

Leave a Reply to Skeptical Observer Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)