The chairwoman of the Miss America Organization, Gretchen Carlson, announced Tuesday on Good Morning America that starting next year, the annual event will no longer include swimsuit and evening gown segments.
“We are no longer a pageant,” Carlson, who won Miss America in 1989, said. “We are a competition.”
“We’ve heard from a lot of young women who say, ‘We’d love to be a part of your program but we don’t want to be out there in high heels and a swimsuit,’ so guess what, you don’t have to do that anymore,” Carlson said.
She went on to say that the competition is aimed at demonstrating a participant’s talents and inner qualities and not just their bodies.
Some conservatives took to Twitter to mock the decision.
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) June 5, 2018
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) June 5, 2018
— Mark O'Wokeness (@Solvang84) June 5, 2018
Others showed their support for the decision, while others joked about it.
— Matthew Kick (@MatthewKick) June 5, 2018
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) June 5, 2018
— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) June 5, 2018
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 5, 2018
— Britt McHenry (@BrittMcHenry) June 5, 2018
