Former Contestants accuse Mrs. America Pageant CEO of Using Racial Slurs

Four women, former contestants of Mrs. America Pageant have accused the president and CEO of the Mrs. America pageant David Marmel of racist comments.

Kimberly Phillips, Brandy Palacios, Jeri Ward, and Crissy Timpson, in a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred on Monday, said Marmel made the remarks at a party last August in Las Vegas before the televised competition.

Phillips, Palacios and Timpson said they were sitting with another unnamed black contestant when Marmel allegedly said “black women need to stop having babies with four baby daddies and all black men are in jail because they need to stop selling drugs and killing each other.”

Ward said she overheard it from the next table.

Marmel, according to the women also said owners of Ebony magazine were “the most racist people he ever met because they all used the term n—-r freely with each other.”

“At this point, he put his arm next to mine and in order to compare skin colour,” Palacios said.

Timpson also said Marmel told her some days before that “the asshole who kneels (referring to Colin Kaepernick) needs to stop disrespecting my flag” upon learning that her husband currently serves in the U.S. Air Force.

Marmel told NBC News that the women wrongly characterised his statement, saying the allegations are “ugly” and “false.” He also said he didn’t understand the former contestants’ “crusade” and questioned whether this was “reverse racism.”

On using the N-word, Marmel said he was recounting his experience as a Jewish baseball player who was subjected, along with African American teammates, to abuse from crowds.

“For them to twist that into me using that slur as some sort of epithet is disgusting and says something about them,” Marmel told The Guardian.

Allred said the women have “no plans” to sue but just want an apology.

“We ask (Marmel) to acknowledge what they allege that he said, take responsibility for it and apologize to them,” Allred said.