Miss America Organization terminates licenses of states that oppose new leadership

Miss New York Nia Franklin was named Miss America 2019 at last month's ceremony in Atlantic City, N.J. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

The Miss America Organization has faced backlash from multiple states opposing leadership changes that placed former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson at the helm of the national pageant.

The rift between the states and the Miss America Organization largely stems from the national organization‘s decision to revoke the licenses of four states and threaten another 15 with probation in recent days, as a result of state officials who disagreed with the direction Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper have taken the conglomerate. States with terminated licenses must replace current leaders, but also can request appeal hearings from Miss America's executive committee.

A rep for Carlson did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment, however, a Miss America Organization spokesperson told us, “the process regarding Miss America state licensees is confidential.”

The Miss America Organization would not say how it decided which states to terminate and which to threaten with probation, issuing a statement to The Associated Press that read, in its entirety, "The process regarding Miss America state licensees is confidential."

In addition to terminating and threatening the opposing states, the Miss America Organization also thanked the states whose officials stood by the national leadership’s recent decision to remove the popular swimsuit competition from the pageant.

State officials said their dissatisfaction stemmed not from the elimination of the swimsuit competition but rather by how Carlson and Hopper have run the organization since taking over in January.

Georgia and West Virginia are among states that were notified in recent days that their licenses were being terminated, Paul Perkins, a lawyer representing both states, told The Associated Press. A Pennsylvania state pageant official, Chet Welch, confirmed his state has received a termination notice as well. The Associated Press reported the states have been asked to justify their actions leading up to the pageant to the national leadership in writing.

Former Miss North Carolina Jennifer Vaden Barth told the AP, "They are upset, but now they are scared, too." She continued, "This just validates why people are upset and why they felt the need to speak out in the first place."

Vaden Barth, a former national board member, formed a GoFundMe account called the Miss America Organization Leadership Change Fund that has raised over $22,000 to help states in litigation and promote for new leadership at the top of the top.

Perkins, who has also been retained by Vaden Barth to represent the MAO Leadership Change Fund, did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.

This year's pageant, which was held last month, followed the release of a remarkable letter from the outgoing Miss America, Cara Mund, in which she said she had been marginalized and bullied by top pageant leaders. An investigation commissioned by the Miss America Organization found no evidence to back up that claim, but investigators did not interview Mund for the report, which was issued the day after the most recent pageant was held.

Carlson -- who was Miss America 1989 -- and Hopper have depicted the opposition as a "noisy minority" resistant to changes, particularly one as large as the elimination of the pageant's swimsuit competition.

However, many state officials said their opposition was rooted in a lack of transparency and communication from national leaders and did not involve the swimsuit decision.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.