iStock(NEW YORK) — A beauty queen has been stripped of her title over her political posts, both she and the Ms. America Pageant organization said.
However, Katie Williams, the now-former Miss Nevada 2019 and a President Donald Trump supporter, believes if those posts expressed more liberal views there never would have been an issue.
The pageant says that isn’t so and Williams is “distorting the facts.” Ms. America said Williams was disqualified after she ignored the pageant’s “No Politics” rule on social media.
In an eight-minute Facebook video announcing that she was no longer Miss Nevada, Williams said she learned of the pageant’s decision on Aug. 18.
She said that pageant coordinators told her she was “too political.”
“I just don’t understand how you can censor someone with conservative values when I’m not even really saying anything that’s bad,” Williams said.
Prior to her being disqualified, Williams said she had been in contact with Susan Jeskie, the CEO of Ms. America, who told her she needed to create a separate Facebook page because she was posting about politics on one that she was also posting about the crown.
Williams created another Facebook page, but said the pageant still had issues.
In a statement, Ms. America said they asked Williams to keep separate social media accounts.
“One is for politics where she can voice her own opinion as Katie Williams and the other is a new Facebook page for the pageant representing Ms. Nevada State 2019,” according to the statement.
Williams appeared not to follow the requirements and continued to post on her personal page about both politics and the crown.
A recent Facebook post showed Williams counting down until the pageant, with the hashtag “Miss Nevada 2019.” In posts before and after that post, she expressed her political opinions — which include not believing birth control should be a right — and can be seen wearing a Trump 2020 hat in her profile picture.
The pageant shared screenshots of the contract that Williams signed acknowledging and accepting that the Ms. America Pageant was a “No Politics Pageant.” Her signature and initial can be seen in two spots.
Williams and the pageant agreed on the fact that Williams refused to answer multiple calls from the organization leading up to her crown being taken away.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.