No-Show Carrie Prejean Blasted & Defended On Larry King Live
May 15 2009, Published 10:46 a.m. ET
Miss California USA Carrie Prejean was both blasted and defended on Larry King Live Thursday night, after she cancelled her appearance on the show at the last minute.
Miss Universe president Paula Shugart told King Prejean's cancellation was due to exhaustion and travel issues. Prejean had hired her own public relations team following the fallout over her gay marriage remarks, a source told RadarOnline.com, and her handlers reportedly backed out of the interview late Thursday.
Meet The New, Fair And Balanced Carrie Prejean for Fox News
The panel, there to discuss the Prejean's future reign as the pageant's Golden State representative, included Shugart, pageant head Donald Trump, newly-resigned Miss California executive director Shanna Moakler, Miss California co-executive director Keith Lewis and Miss USA judge Alicia Jacobs.
Prejean has been at the eye of a public storm stemming from the anti-gay marriage stance she took during the Miss USA pageant last month. Since then, her affiliation with a conservative organization and topless pictures that subsequently surfaced put her on the brink of having her title revoked, but Trump affirmed this week he would keep her installed as the reigning Miss California.
Moakler, evidently upset by Prejean's actions, said the 21-year-old San Diego native was being rewarded for breaching her contract, while Lewis said he told the beauty queen she needs to bring herself "back into compliance" with the pageant's guidelines.
Trump, said he forgave Prejean's previous infractions with an eye on the times -- but fully expects her to follow the rules from here on out.
"The rules sometimes get a little bit broken, and then you have to make a decision as to whether or not that breaking of the rules was so serious that you terminate somebody's crown," Trump said. "That's a big thing in someone's life, if you take away a crown. I believe she's going -- and I hope -- if she doesn't, we'll have to do something about it. I believe she'll be a really excellent Miss California. If she is, she's going to remain there. If she's not, we're going to do something. "