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Anti-gay marriage Miss California stripped of title for not carrying out official duties
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1192256/Anti-gay-marriage-Carrie-Prejean-stripped-Miss-California-title-breaching-contract.html
By Mail Foreign Service Last updated at 10:41 AM on 11th June 2009
Carrie Prejean competing in the 2009 competition in Las Vegas in April
New gold: Pagaent runner-up Tami Farrell will take over the main duties
Billionaire Donald Trump, gives Miss California USA, Carrie Prejean, her sash. However, she has been stripped of her role after 'not fulfilling her obligations'
Miss Prejean said she was 'shocked' to be told her contract had been terminated
She caused outrage by voicing her views against gay marriage.
But now the beauty queen Carrie Prejean has been stripped of her Miss California title for failing to honour her commitments.
The stunning blonde, who hit the headlines during a recent Miss USA contest by saying marriage should be between a man and a woman only, was dethroned for reportedly breaching her contract.
Weeks earlier, pageant owner Donald Trump had agreed to let the 22-year-old keep the coveted title despite two sets of topless images - one taken when she was 17 - emerging on the Internet.
But her apparent 'unwillingness' to show up to official events has now scuppered her spell at the top.
Representatives for the Miss California USA organisation have confirmed that Carrie has been fired from her position.
Runner-up, Miss Malibu Tami Farrell, will now take Prejean's crown as the new Miss California.
Last night, organisers were stressing that the firing was solely due to her lack of work ethic - not because of her controversial views.
'This was a decision based solely on contract violations including Ms Prejean's unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of the Miss California USA organisation,' Miss California USA Executive Director Keith Lewis said in a statement.
'After our press conference in New York we had hoped we would be able to forge a better working relationship.'
He continued: 'However, since that time it has become abundantly clear that Carrie is unwilling to fulfil her obligations under our contract and work together.'
The organisation's owner, Donald Trump, added: 'I told Carrie she needed to get back to work and honour her contract with the Miss California USA Organisation and I gave her the opportunity to do so.
'Unfortunately it just doesn't look like it is going to happen and I offered Keith my full support in making this decision.'
Miss Prejean, from San Diego, sparked controversy during the Miss USA pageant, in which she explained to judge Perez Hilton that she didn't believe in gay marriage.
Her controversial views were backed by the majority of Californians however - who, last month, voted to ban gay marriage - a move that has caused outrage across the gay-rights movement.
However it seems Tami Farrell had wised up to the consequences of commenting on the divisive issue when asked for her views on chat show Larry King Live last night.
When asked whether each US state should legalise same-sex marriage, stunning Tami, 24, who was runner-up to Prejean as Miss California, avoided giving a straight answer.
Instead, she urged the world to 'move on' and stop 'looking to beauty queens for the answer'.
She told host Larry King: 'Honestly I think it's a personal decision and I think it's a civil rights issue and it's something that we should let each state decide.
'I think it's silly with all this controversy right now that the world is looking to beauty queens for the answer, that's my honest opinion'
When asked pointedly how, as a California voter, she would vote on the issue, she batted the question back to Larry King.
Under pressure to respond, she then replied: 'My thing is I just think with all of the controversy that's been going on I want to start clean and move forward.
'There are so many other amazing organisations and so many great things we can champion here.
'Just like everyone else in the world I think this has dragged on for so long, I think let's move forward and start clean.'
She also insisted that she has not breached her contract and spoken of her shock at being replaced.
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