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 Singer, actress and former Miss America Vanessa Williams
received a public apology from the pageant organization that
famously ordered her to give up her crown amid a nude photo
scandal in 1984.
"I want to apologize for anything that was said or done that
made you feel any less than the Miss America you are and the
Miss America you always will be," said Sam Haskell, CEO of the
Miss America Organization.
Williams, the first African American woman to wear the crown,
has maintained that the photos published by Penthouse Magazine
in 1984 were unauthorized. Williams served as the pageant's
chief judge during its 95th anniversary on Sunday in Atlantic
City.
"I think this was something in the back of her mind that she
also wanted to do at some point," said 1989 pageant winner and
Fox News Host Gretchen Carlson, speaking on the red carpet
before the event.
Sunday's pageant came as it struggles to maintain its relevance
after it was dropped by ABC in 2004 following a steep ratings
decline. It returned to ABC in 2011 after years on cable
television, but its ratings have remained below what they were
in 2004.
Last year, comedian John Oliver used a segment of his show Last
Week Tonight to lambaste the Miss America Organization over its
claim that it had provided $45 million in scholarships.
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As it turned out, the organization was counting scholarship offers
made to contestants, not those that the contestants actually
accepted, a discrepancy that inflated the totals. This year,
officials are out with a new figure, saying the pageant awards $5.5
million in scholarships.
Pageant judges score contestants from all U.S. states, the District
of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, based on a talent competition, a
personal interview, answers to an on-stage question, and appearances
in gowns and swimsuits.
Cantrell was crowned to the song "Miss America," the first time the
song has been played at the pageant since 2012 amid a licensing
dispute with the estate of the song's author.
The new winner will inherit a lifestyle that could see her log
20,000 miles of travel per month. Kira Kazantsev, the 2015 winner
from New York, said she can make as many as nine appearances on
behalf of a charity per day.
(Reporting by Daniel Kelley; Editing by Fiona Ortiz, Brendan O'Brien
and Andrea Ricci)
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