Miss USA Contestant Sheena Monnin Sued, Stands By Pageant Fixing Claims
Sheena Monnin, former Miss Pennsylvania, is officially being sued for Defamation by the Miss Universe pageant organization officials after failing to retract her recent statements that the Miss USA pageant predetermines its winners.
Monnin, who resigned from the pageant over the debacle, was given 24 hours to retract her statement that the pageant is "fraudulent, lacking in morals, inconsistent, and in many ways trashy" by the owner of the organization, Donald Trump, according to TMZ.
After the beauty queen failed to apologize and retract her statement, the Miss Universe organization officials filed two defamation claims in a bid to take the matter before a private court. They are said to be seeking "significant damages" from Monnin.
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Monnin appeared on the "Today Show" on Friday and is standing by her allegations that the pageant is fixed.
She maintains that before she resigned from the pageant, Miss Florida told her that she had seen a list of the top 5 Miss Universe contestants which perfectly matched the end result which lead Monnin to her belief that the pageant is fixed. Miss Florida now insists that she was joking.
"I feel prepared to continue to pursue the truth. I know what I heard, and I know what I in turn witnessed come true based on what I heard the contestant said … she saw the list. I'm prepared to continue to march forward," Sheena told NBC's Ann Curry.
"What I really want out of this is for the truth to be known. I want to make sure I stand up for what I know is right. I know what I heard. There's no doubt in my mind that the contestant was serious when she laid out what she said she saw," she added.
Trump also spoke to the "Today Show" and painted Monnin as a sore loser who is being dishonest.
"We're going to be suing her now -- she made a very false charge and she knows it's a false charge," Trump said, adding Monnin's claims are "totally ridiculous."
"I think her primary issue is that she lost and she's angry about losing. And frankly, in my opinion, I saw her barely a second and she didn't deserve to be in the top 15," he added.
