Miss California: Pageant organizers tried to force me to apologize
posted at 11:36 am on April 27, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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The saga of the Miss USA pageant continues to get more and more ridiculous. After organizer Donald Trump inexplicably invited Perez Hilton to judge the beauty contest and the blogger wound up using it as a PR stunt with a politically loaded question, Carrie Prejean has garnered more attention for her runner-up status than the winner got. (Quick: without Googling, can you name her?) Now, after Miss California has become a media darling by speaking her own mind, she reveals that the Miss California pageant organizers wanted her to remember her proper place — by renouncing her religious beliefs and apologizing:

Miss California Carrie Prejean, who became the bombshell of the Miss USA pageant by saying gay couples should not be allowed to marry, said Sunday that her state sponsors urged her to apologize afterward but she rejected the advice.

Prejean, 21, said officials from the Miss California USA pageant were worried that her comments would cost their contest financial backing and tried to prepare her for a string of post-pageant media interviews by discouraging her from discussing her religious beliefs.

“`You need to apologize to the gay community. You need to not talk about your faith. This has everything to do with you representing California and saving the brand,’â€