The Consequences of Truth for Carrie Prejean
Is honesty the best PR policy? In today’s news, Miss California USA, Carrie Prejean was fired by pageant grand wizard Donald Trump. According to Trump and other pageant officials, Prejean had failed to meet her obligations by missing any number of scheduled appearances, and other contract violations. It seems apparent that conflicts with higher-ups in the Miss USA organization may have played a pivotal role in her firing. Prejan’s stance on gay marriage have been at the center of this controversy. Which begs the question; “Do we want honesty, or political correctness?”
Miss Prejean’s troubles all started at the Q&A session before the California USA pageant was decided. When asked her opinion on same sex marriages by panelist Perez Hilton. Prejan, who was raised an evangelical Christian, simply answered that she did not agree with same sex marriage. Since then, Prejean has been assailed by gay rights groups at every turn. For this writer, I am wondering just what the lady should have answered, given that a lie would have followed her even farther in life than her truth.
Reportedly, Trump wanted to give Prejean every possible chance, but her own actions, amplified by actions from pageant and certain media notables, led to him changing his mind and giving Prejean the axe. The resignation of pageant director, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler appears to have played no small part in Trump’s decision. Efforts by Perez Hilton, both on “its” site and elsewhere, would seem to have added fuel to the fire of controversy as well. Another question the reader might ponder is, “Why would the Miss California USA pageant ask someone like Perez Hilton to be on a panel in the first place?”
Carrie Prejean in the evening gown competition
To Trump’s credit, in response to criticism of Prejean’s answer to the “same sex marriage” question, Trump replied; “It was the same answer President Obama gave to the same question.” The man may not be a teddy bear, but at least he seems intelligent and fair for the most part. As for Hilton, “its” campaign mirrors the lack of class one would expect from a sensationalist gossip monger. The latest sensation at that site is a sort of “victory” expose featuring none other than Moakler’s pics and the following statement:
“Now that Carrie has been terminated from her position as Miss California, I would consider resuming my role and responsibilities with the pageant. It was hard for me to step down, but I felt what was happening was wrong and against what I felt was a proper guideline for our youth to follow.
“First and foremost, my faith has been restored in the Miss Universe Organization and with Donald Trump. I believed eventually what I intimately knew would come to fruition.”
Good for The Goose
Casting stone is not the best advice for any celebrity in California in my view. For Moakler’s part, life in the fast lane has had its ups and downs too. From being names Playboy’s Playmate of the Month (warning, link contains explicit images) for December, 2001 – to a flurry of boyfriends from Billy Idol to Denis Quad, that Miss would seem to live in a straw house, if not a glass one. Pictures of Prejean posing in provocative, if somewhat “tame” images had surfaced, provoking still more criticism, not the least of which appeared on Hilton’s blog.
Truth and Consequences
This writer is not up on the California scene, and I acknowledge that I know little about Prajean, or any of these other people for that matter. What I do know is that being truthful has its earmarks. Prejean has been accused of lieing about the somewhat risque images, and on 100 other counts by notorious liars like Hilton. The defining truth in all this however, would seem to be Prejan’s conviction to her religious upbringing. Sticking to her guns about same sex marriage, given the place she grew up and the climate of opinion there, says a lot to me about the “truth” of this story.
About the Author
Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.
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Comment by ma on 11 June 2009:
Gosh that appears to be the truth however, Miss Prejean violated her contract by not following through with the obligations set in the contract. She hasn’t appeared at any of the interviews.
What’s his face doesn’t care what she believes or disbelieves. He’s a businessman. That’s how he came to be who he is. Business people don’t care what a person believes as long as s/he keeps the contract agreement.
Comment by HMTKSteve on 11 June 2009:
ma is right. She was not fired over the gay marriage incident, she was fired for not doing the job she was hired to do.
Comment by Phil Butler on 11 June 2009:
I disagree. The issue of not appearing had its impact. However, political and media pressure, culminating in the stepping down of Moakler, sealed her fate. Trump obviously had intended to work with Prejean until this event. It is about business, and business these days is about which way the wind is blowing, unless of course they can convince us it is not blowing at all.
I cannot know the exactitude of all this, I just evaluated her conviction, the flimsy evidence supplied against her, and her past (and others) to take my stance on this issue. Those aligned against her, in my view, paint the picture pretty well in her favor. Think of it this way, if she had been politically correct, and lied about her convictions, the other polar segment of society would have probably vilified her, and with justifiable proof she was a hypocrite. Face it, we all have to choose sides eventually, and in the end, the side you pick is the one you will be identified with.
I do not see any prima facia evidence to the effect that she refused to appear at all these funtions, and even if she did, she should be given the chance to explain why. Someone go out and find that, then at least I can agree that a “big” part of her firing was because of this. As for my support for standing up to her convictions, that will stand until someone proves otherwise as well. I would do the same for you as well BTW, and you both know that.
Always,
Phil
Comment by kavi09 on 13 June 2009:
I watched her Larry King Live interview tonite, just a couple of hours ago and according to her, it seems that she was not even invited to half of those interviews/appearances and she said that many of the times when she was informed of them, she was either traveling or not in town so who knows? Those were just a ‘made up’ reason, again, according to her!
My gut wants to agree with her – and I hope someone can answer her question she asked tonite on Larry King live.. “If politics has no role in the pageant, why was I given this question?” Truth or not, she was asked to state her opinion and now punishing her for doing just that is absurd!
Comment by kavi09 on 13 June 2009:
here is the transcript link: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0906/12/lkl.01.html
Comment by Phil Butler on 13 June 2009:
Hi Kavi,
Like you I am not suggesting that my opinion is right. I did look about a good bit more than everyone else perhaps. It does not make much sense for someone to tell the truth about an issue like same sex marriages, stick to their guns all along about it, refuse to do Playboy for over $100,000 and the notoriety, refuse to do some cheesy TV show that would damage her image and career, and then lie about having missed some of these appearances.
I looked at the FOX news release of emails between her and her boss, and it does appear she got very adversarial towards this guy. But as you say, who knows? If he had tried to ram Playboy down my throat, suggested things that were honestly beneath a good person, and etc, I would not have been thrilled with the person either. For me, she does seem a little B___Y sometimes, but then she is a beautiful gal, and entitled to her share of, well, “puffyness” I suppose. As for the missed appearances, as of yet, I have seen little or no proof she missed anything except the “right answer” to the gay question.
So far, my opinion still stands, and as for the why of this, I believe she made some very influential people mad. For one, Playboy is in deep financial trouble, not getting what you might call “premium” content on their wares is not a good thing for them now. Secondly, the “I am a celebrity” show, which is a piece of trash, is run by ITV, the biggest TV aspect in the UK. Lastly, Hollywood needs all the celebs and yes “booty” it can muster to perpetuate all that is going on there. Miss Prejean obviously shunned than venue as well. To her detriment it appears.
So there you have the Phil Butler philosophical take on why things go bad for beautiful people sometimes. A last note I have been thinking about is that the lady is getting some “envy hate” syndrome going on here on the web and on the ground as well I think. She may be the biggest “B” that ever lived, but at least she had the conviction to stand up for what she apparently believes in. Whether this is a symbol of her inner belief system or just good PR, either way, she is to be commended for either integrity or intelligence.
Always,
Phil
Comment by Bowler on 15 June 2009:
Prejean has gotten so much PR out of all this drama she’ll be able to pursue more lucrative career paths…