San Diego native and former Miss California Carrie Prejean has been all over the news since the Miss USA pageant in April of this year, most recently for lawsuits she filed against Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler (the Miss California pageant's co-executive directors) and pageant publicist Roger Neal.
After being stripped of her crown, she sued them for religious discrimination as well as slander and libel. Shanna Moakler, a former Miss USA, was possibly the most vocal in expressing her distaste for Carrie Prejean's answer to the question about same-sex marriage posed by guest judge Perez Hilton during the Miss USA Contest.
Perez Hilton asked: "Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or Why not?"
Miss Prejean answered: "Well 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, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there but that's how I was raised and that's how I think that it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you."
This set off a firestorm of critism and controversy as Carrie Prejean came in 2nd, rumored to have lost because of her answer to this question. Perez Hilton's subsequent name-calling and consistent rudeness toward Miss Prejean included "I spoke to God before the Miss USA pageant and he told me himself to ask that question. He also told me that Carrie Prejean did not deserve to win." and "Oh, and I spoke to God again today. She says that Carrie's title as Miss California should be taken away!"
Eventually her crown was taken away. The reasons given revolved around Miss Prejean missing scheduled appearances and attending those which were not approved by pageant officials. This could be true because she was very much in demand by conservative organizations that invited her to speak and stand up for traditional marriage. Carrie Prejean's legal counsel advised the lawsuit, which provoked pagaent officials to countersue, embarassingly enough, for breast implant reimbursement.
A joint statement was released earlier today stating "Carrie Prejean, Keith Lewis and K2 Productions have dropped their claim against each other and wish each other the best in their future endeavors." No other details of this apparently mutual truce were given or revealed, so that may be the end of the story ... for now. Only time will tell.
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