Carrie Prejean to Miss California USA: Last Chance to Retract Defamatory Statements

At Big Hollywood, "Prejean Attorney to Miss California USA Pageant Directors: Last Chance to Retract Defamatory Statements":

[Ed. note: The following letter was just released to Big Hollywood. Written by Carrie Prejean's lawyer, Charles S. LiMandri, it was sent today to Timothy F. Shields, Esq., the attorney representing Miss California USA Pageant co-directors Keith Lewis and Shana Moakler, and K2 Productions, Inc.]

RE: Carrie Prejean v. Keith Lewis, Shana Moakler, and K2 Productions, Inc.

Dear Mr. Shields:

We are writing in response to your letter of June 13, 2009. There have been multiple written communications from me to you since the date of that letter addressing these various issues in detail, and which we will not repeat at this time. Since your letter was released to the press, however, with the attachments, we feel it necessary to address some of the more egregious misrepresentations made in that letter.

1. There Was No Unauthorized Participation in Literary Works.

As you well know, both Keith Lewis and Donald Trump had given preliminary approval to Ms. Prejean to write a book. In fact, Mr. Trump’s office had circulated a draft amendment to her contract for that purpose at the time that she was terminated - - without warning and without just cause. She did not yet have a contract with a book publisher at the time she was terminated. She did have a contract with a literary publicist to find a publisher for the book, which was the source of the confusion about this issue. Without giving Ms. Prejean or me an opportunity to clarify the matter, she was abruptly terminated. The fact that she was working on a book was well known and was discussed multiple times, both verbally and in writing. Obviously, the book had not yet been published, and there can be no material breach of contract at issue here. Therefore, the reason given for her termination as being based in part upon her doing a book deal is a complete and utter pretext.

2. There Were No Unauthorized Public Appearances.

As you also know, in a telephone conference with eight people on April 29, 2009, including you and me, it was agreed that Ms. Prejean could make public appearances, in her individual capacity, so long as she did not use the Miss California USA title or wear her tiara and sash. Moreover, any public appearances she allegedly made without the advance authorization of your clients, were deemed by Mr. Trump not to be contract violations at the press conference he held on May 12, 2009. Since that day, Ms. Prejean has not made public appearances unless they were authorized by either your client or Mr. Trump. Your client has falsely accused her of doing a Shape Magazine interview, and appearing on Fox and Friends, without prior authorization. In both cases, it was Mr. Trump who asked her to do those interviews and who set them up for her. As to the radio show you referenced in your letter, in which you indicated that she would be reading from a “show biz script,” she did not do that interview after your client would not authorize it.

3. Ms. Prejean Did Not Refuse Reasonable Public Appearance Opportunities.

Mr. Lewis has falsely stated that Ms. Prejean refused to make over 50 public appearance requests after May 12, 2009. Initially, he was suggesting that she did not appear at scheduled events. He later recanted that statement and said that she did not fail to appear at any scheduled events, but simply declined numerous requests to attend them. We asked you to provide us with a list of those public appearances and you did so with a three-page itemized list which you attached to your letter and which was circulated to the media.

Read the whole letter, here.

And, in case you missed it, check my recent essay at Pajamas Media, "Miss California Carrie Prejean’s Odyssey: Not Very Pretty."