Miss Americas Turn on Organization and Demand Top Dogs Resign Over 'Sickening' Emails

Internal email exchanges among Miss America President Josh Randle, board Chair Lynn Weidner and board member Tammy Haddad were obtained by The Huffington Post on Thursday. The story revealed misogynistic, derogatory and demeaning language used to describe former pageant winners -- behavior the women feel goes against the very principles of the organization.

One email included fat-shaming statements and sexual innuendos pertaining to former Miss America Mallory Hagan, who was crowned in 2013. Another email suggested that Haskell, Weidner and Haddad worked to destroy one winner's business plan to become an interview coach to prospective Miss America contestants. And in yet another email, Haskell asked that all future script copy reflect the change in title from "Forever Miss Americas" to "Former Miss Americas." The Miss America employee who responded to the email said, "I've already changed 'Forevers' to 'Cunts. Does that work for you?" to which Haskell responded, "Perfect...bahahaha."

Miss Americas including BeBe Shopp Waring (crowned in 1948), former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson (crowned in 1989), and this year's winner, Savvy Shields, all signed an open letter Friday, saying they were "deeply disturbed and saddened to learn of the sickening and egregious words used by Miss America leadership in reference both to our group and to specific members of our sisterhood."

"As dedicated members of communities, businesses and families, and ambassadors for the Miss America program across the country, we stand firmly against harassment, bullying and shaming -- especially of women -- through the use of derogatory terms meant to belittle and demean," the letter reads. "As Miss Americas, we strongly reject the mischaracterizations of us both collectively and individually. We also reject the ongoing efforts to divide our sisterhood and the attempts to pit us against one another."