Advertisement

When opportunity knocks, beauty and the blogger take it

Share

MSNBC host Tamron Hall had only a few minutes, so she bore down on “the scandal.” Hall pressed earnestly about allegations that her guest had given “the worst answer in beauty pageant history.”

She got 21-year-old Carrie Prejean to tell exactly how it felt when celebrity blogger Perez Hilton called her “the b-word.” Then, pausing to steel herself, the newswoman plunged into important new territory.

“He went on, he went on to call you the c-word,” Hall told Miss California, pausing again to emphasize the magnitude of the blow. “What’s your response to that?”

Advertisement

Glory, glory to 24-hour cable and to bloggers and all the rest of the media horde, and the willing subjects who embrace, honor and obey the “o-word.” That’s Opportunity. And it’s what happens when an attention-hungry celebrity blogger and an ambitious pageant queen (and future leader?) make beautifully nasty music together.

This is not to discount the real emotion and conflict over the question that brought pageant judge Hilton and Prejean together Sunday night at the Miss USA pageant, when he asked about legalizing gay marriage and she answered: “I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.”

It’s just drearily predictable to watch the endless cable, blog and newspaper fallout, inevitably accompanied by pictures and video (sometimes both) of Prejean sashaying on stage in her white bikini -- and to watch as the blogger and the beauty both strain to extend their YouTube moment.

Hilton continues to replay stories related to the showdown on perezhilton.com and in many interviews. He would like to prove he’s an important gay rights champion, but the self-described “Queen of All Media” seems more concerned with ginning up attention and hits for his website.

Serious civil rights activists fighting for equal protection under the law can’t possibly want this guy fronting their righteous cause. If he’s not hissing that Prejean is a “dumb bitch,” he’s decorating her picture on his website with a drawing of a penis. (Small solace: Hilton regularly decorates celebrity pics with phallic scribbles.)

The spiky-haired blogger described his feelings of disgust and anger that Prejean opposes gay marriage, but seemed more peeved that she didn’t play from the beauty queen handbook. Why, he suggested, didn’t Miss California skirt the gay marriage question and answer: “I should represent all Americans and I’m not here to talk about politics.”

Advertisement

In breaking with the pageant code, Prejean seems to me a virtual revolutionary. Self-styled bad boy Hilton, meanwhile, enforces the social norm like a sorority house mother.

I’d like to declare Prejean a Bold Leader of Tomorrow if her subsequent appearances hadn’t taken on the gamy scent of smart marketing.

Immediately after her runner-up finish, Prejean sounded like the woman wronged, the Miss USA crown plucked from her head by one rotten question. “If I had any other question, I know I would have won,” she told FoxNews.com.

Later, she suggested she knew such controversial topics could arise.

By the time of her appearance Tuesday with Fox host Neil Cavuto, the wide-eyed blond had decided the query was a gift from On High.

“I think that I was the one that was blessed enough to get this question,” said Prejean, a Christian college student in San Diego. “I am so blessed that I was able to speak my mind, my thoughts, my convictions in front of millions of people.”

No surprise, Prejean became an instant hit with Christian conservatives. The Alabama House voted a commendation. She visited the Grand Ole Opry on Thursday night for the Dove Awards -- “Christian and gospel music’s biggest night!”

Advertisement

My search engine tells me that Prejean got easily double the news coverage that John McCain’s former campaign manager received when he announced last week that he supported gay marriage.

“Denying two consenting adults the right to form a beautiful commitment to one another denies them two of our most natural rights: liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Steve Schmidt said in a speech imploring Republicans to reconsider their widespread opposition to gay marriage.

Those who have been around Schmidt, whose sister is a lesbian, know he has put considerable thought into his position. But the big, bald politico never won a swimsuit competition. And he didn’t conduct a televised slappy-fight over his beliefs. So his statement quickly disappeared into the media maw.

A Miss USA spokeswoman sounded irritated when I called Thursday to ask about their proud runner-up. The flack noted that Prejean has a new publicist, whose name she couldn’t seem to recall.

“She is not our title holder,” the PR moll said, briskly ending the conversation.

But Miss California no longer needs Donald Trump’s trumped up Miss USA pageant, anyway. She’s her own free-thinking, free-wheeling gal now. And she’s telling anyone who’ll listen.

Maybe she sees a role model far to the north, where another beauty queen reinvented herself.

Advertisement

“I am continuing my modeling career. I’m not sure how far that is going to lead me,” Prejean answered when Fox’s Cavuto asked about her future. “Maybe get into politics, you never know.”

--

james.rainey@latimes.com

Advertisement