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TechnoratiCarrie Prejean will remain Miss California for now, announced real estate mogul Donald Trump Tuesday.
(Photo: AP / Bebeto Matthews)Miss California USA, Carrie Prejean, thanks Donald Trump for his support, during a news conference in New York, Tuesday, May 12, 2009. Trump, who owns the Miss USA pageant, says Prejean can retain her Miss California USA crown after she caused a stir expressing opposition to gay marriage and posing in risque photographs.
Trump, co-owner of the Miss Universe Origination, said at a press conference that they reviewed the semi-nude photos that Prejean took when she was 17 years old and also the new set of photos released that very morning.
Though some of the photos were risqué, Trump and the organization determined that overall they were "acceptable, fine, and in some cases ... lovely" and that Prejean’s failure to disclose them upon entering the Miss California pageant was a miscommunication, not a breach of contract as California pageant officials alleged.
Prejean, who turns 22 on Wednesday, explained at Tuesday's briefing that the first set of leaked photos were taken by a girlfriend at home for her portfolio to submit to modeling agents. The photos were intended "for application rather than publication," she stressed.
"I answered truthfully on my pageant application and I have not been photographed in semi-nude or nude publications," Prejean added.
Regarding the latest photo leak, the Southern California beauty queen explained that they were released by a professional photographer and that they were unauthorized and inappropriate images taken "between pose shots on a windy day" while she was unaware.
Prejean, who was first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant, also stressed that she is not an activist.
"Being at the center of a media firestorm is not something I had planned or signed up for," she said. "Let me be clear, I am not an activist, nor do I have a personal agenda. I was thrown into this firestorm from the time I was asked the question on stage."
During the Miss USA competition, Prejean was asked whether states should legalize gay marriage as Vermont had recently done. In response, Prejean said she believes marriage should be between a man and woman, almost immediately igniting a media frenzy.
In less than a day, she was all over YouTube and called to fly out to New York for an interview on the Today Show.
"I was scared," Prejean recalled during a recent interview with Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family.
"I feel like I'm going in the lion's den right now. I'm not sure what to expect. I don't know what they're going to ask me," she recalled thinking when on the flight to New York for her first post-pageant interview.
The beauty pageant queen explained that she did not know why she was being requested for an interview even before the Miss USA winner or what she was getting into.
Empathizing with Prejean, Dobson told Prejean, "The media is going to try to destroy you."
Those on the far left and in Hollywood are not real happy about you, Dobson said.
Focus on the Family recorded the interview between Prejean and Dobson more than a week ago, before the first set of racy photos surfaced.
At the beginning of the Focus on the Family broadcast, which aired on Monday and continued on Tuesday, Dobson made note of the photos and said Focus on the Family opposes "that kind of sensuality" and remains a strong supporter of modesty and righteousness.
The organization, however, decided to air the interview this week after receiving confirmation from Prejean that she regrets taking such photos and would not do it again.
"Most of us did things when we were teens that we're embarrassed about too. But life goes on," Dobson said. Continue »
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