Incoming A.C. Mayor Gilliam asks CRDA to pull out of Miss America contract

Miss America CEO Sam Haskell cuts the ribbon to start the parade in front of Boardwalk Hall during the Miss America Show Us Your Shoes parade on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, Saturday Sept. 14, 2013

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FILE - In this April 25, 2017 file photo, Gretchen Carlson attends the TIME 100 Gala, celebrating the 100 most influential people in the world in New York. Public disclosure of sexual harassment allegations against Roger Ailes, the former Fox News chairman, by former news anchor Gretchen Carlson in 2016 led to his ouster. Ailes sued Carlson saying her contract prohibited her from going public until both sides first tried closed-door arbitration. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

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Miss America visited a pair of AC Schools
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Miss America Cara Mund visited Atlantic City schools including Richmond Avenue School. Miss America visited and address students at the two schools in Atlantic City who collected the most food for the Atlantic City Rescue Mission during the 4th Annual Miss America Serves Food Drive during competition week earlier this month. Sept. ,25, 2017 (Craig Matthews / Staff Photographer)

Craig Matthews / Staff Photographer

10:07 a.m. : Incoming Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam said the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority should try to get out of the final year of their contract with the Miss America Organization.

On Thursday, Dick Clark Productions cut ties with the Miss America Organization over internal emails by the organization's CEO, Sam Haskell, where he ridiculed past winners' appearance, intelligence and sex lives.

In February 2016, Miss America and the state agency agreed to a three-year deal to keep the pageant in the resort through 2018. Under the contract, Miss America receives about $11.9 million in state subsidy during the life of the contract. When the contract was approved, supporters touted the amount of the national television exposure the city would get from the telecast.

“It’s a great opportunity to pull out of the contract,” Gilliam said Friday morning. “Now that the television has gone, it’s not what we are paying for.”

In February 2016, Miss America and the state agency agreed to a three-year deal to keep the pageant in the resort through 2018. Under the contract, Miss America receives about $11.9 million in state subsidy during the life of the contract. When the contract was approved, supporters touted the amount of the national television exposure the city would get from the telecast.

“I’m not one of the biggest fans of Miss America because we don’t get back compared to what give,” Gilliam said.

The Huffington Post reported that Haskell exchanged emails with a writer for the televised pageant and others that included harsh and sometimes vulgar comments about past winners.

Former pageant winners and alumni have already gone to social media to comment on the issue.

Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America and former member of the Board of the Miss America Organization, said this to Yasher Ali of New York Magazine:

6. I just received this statement from @GretchenCarlson in response to the revelations in my story. https://t.co/fyv26kDt55 pic.twitter.com/bEolhoN8lp

— Yashar Ali