Army National Guardsmen Katie Jo Williams, who is also former Ms. Nevada State, has accused the Ms. America Pageant of stripping her o...
Army National Guardsmen Katie Jo Williams, who is also former Ms. Nevada State, has accused the Ms. America Pageant of stripping her of her title because she is a conservative Trump supporter.
The Ms. America Pageant, however, has a different story to tell and says that Williams' account of the incident that resulted in losing her title is not accurate.
What is Williams alleging?
Williams, a former combat veteran, made the accusations on social media, claiming that she's "tired of being censored for nothing."
In a lengthy video, Williams explained that her conservative political posts disqualified her from keeping her title and competing in the pageant, and said that she was not aware of what she had to remove in order to stay qualified.
"The pageant's actually this Saturday," she said in the social media video. "So, that means everything's been paid for. Everything's been done. All the sponsor money has been collected, and now I don't get to compete."
She said the pageant demanded she turn over her crown and sash and never speak of the pageant again. Williams also complained that the pageant targeted her for her conservative beliefs, and for being a supporter of President Donald Trump.
"I am so tired of being labeled as this crazy, right wing, whatever you want to call it," she complained. "I just don't understand how you could censor someone with conservative values when I'm not even really saying anything that's bad."
What is the pageant saying?
What is the pageant saying?
Susan Jeske, director of the Ms. America Pageant, said that Williams is not being honest.
In a statement shared to her Facebook page, Jeske insisted that Williams' losing her title had nothing "to do with her personal political views."
"The Ms. America Pageant is a No Politics pageant," Jeske wrote. "It is in our Rules & Regulations as posted on the pageant website and therefore available to read before applying to the pageant."
Jeske insisted that Williams was aware of the policy, and said that at the time of entry, there was nothing political on Williams' social media.
"The purpose for these Rules and Regulations is that the Ms. America Pageant does not want to be seen as endorsing any political candidate or political cause," Jeske's statement added.
Despite signing off on the rules, Williams reportedly insisted on questioning the policy and insisted on sharing political discussion on her social media plages.
"The pageant made many attempts to speak to her over the phone to try to resolve this issue," Jeske explained, and noted that the pageant gave Williams a final deadline in which to make her social media presence compliant with the pageantry rules.
"The pageant offered her a full refund on her entry fee and refund on one ticket that she purchased to the pageant after she fulfilled requirements of returning crown and sash and removal of the title Ms. Nevada State 2019 from all social media and the Internet," the posting concluded.
The Ms. America Pageant will be Saturday in Long Beach, California.
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