Jesse Grant/Getty ImagesIn the aftermath of Carrie Prejean's firing by Donald Trump and his West Coast cohorts, the Miss California Organization proudly trotted out their new princess, Tami Farrell, on Today and the Early Show this morning.
She stuck to the company line on both shows, tossing out phrases about being "honored," "moving forward" and making herself "available to the program" and charities and all that jazz.
"I was a little hesitant to be stepping into the line of fire, I'll be honest," she said in her choicest moment on Today. "There's been divisive questions. I've been brought in to try and unify our state. I'm not being silenced for my beliefs, but I just think that this isn't a battle that anybody can win, so I'm going to do my best to just refocus it on some of the other aspects."
However, the head of the Miss California pageant, Keith Lewis, who appeared alongside his new queen on both morning shows, had plenty to say…
He said that Prejean missed "tens and tens and tens" of appearances and insists the beauty wasn't dethroned for her political leanings.
"I think it's time for us to move back this political platform that she was fired because of her beliefs, because that dog just won't hunt," he told Today.
He compared letting the beauty go to laying off an employee at any job.
"I think if you tell your boss, 'I'm not gonna do the job, I'm gonna do whatever I want, you can't tell me what I’m gonna do,' I think that you expect that your boss is gonna say to you, You know what? You're probably not supposed to be in this job anymore," Lewis explained on the Early Show. "It was just very difficult for us, and we tried to meet halfway, and it was obvious that wasn't going to happen.
"Finally, there was a point when the organization really had to stand up and say, You know what? It's time for us to move on and get back to the business of beauty."
When Access Hollywood's Billy Bush asked Prejean about the firing in an interview yesterday, she claimed it was the first she'd heard that news.
Lewis explained to Today that this was no fault of his own.
"It went from our attorney to her attorney which is the proper channel, so, if Mr. Bush was the first one to alert her, it was because her attorney didn't do it," he said.
Prejean, and her attorney, Charles LiMandri (who also represents the National Organization for Marriage), fired back this afternoon.
"Keith Lewis cannot deny the truth: He did not bother to pick up the phone and tell Carrie Prejean before he alerted the media," the lawyer said in a statement.
"He did not pick up the phone and call me to let me know she was fired either. Both of us learned about it from media reports. He claims he wants to 'move on' yet he continues to attack not only me, Carrie, but even Carrie's pastor, Miles McPherson. This tells you everything you need to know about Keith Lewis and the way the pageant has treated Carrie from day one."
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