Anchor: Well that is the controversial answer that one of the judges says probably cost Miss California the Miss USA crown and it has ignited a battle between the beauty...
More »Anchor: Well that is the controversial answer that one of the judges says probably cost Miss California the Miss USA crown and it has ignited a battle between the beauty queen and the blogger who asked her the question about gay marriage. His name is Perez Hilton and he spoke with MSNBC Nora O’Donnell yesterday about the scandal.
Perez: I was absolutely shocked and incredibly frustrated and hurt and disappointed because that is not the kind of woman I want to be Miss USA. Miss USA should represent all Americans and with her answer she instantly was divisive and alienated millions of gays and lesbians their family, their friends and supporters.
Anchor: And joining me live in studio is Miss California, Carrie Prejean for her side of the story. Good to see you Carrie.
Carrie: Good to see you thank you for having me.
Anchor: Absolutely, so you’ve heard what Perez Hilton had to say tell us what you’re thoughts when he asked you that question. I understand from…who was a judge, the judges were allowed to choose the question of their liking and that was the one he wanted to ask.
Carrie: Right and I was ready for a question that might have been controversial. But as soon I had picked his name out of the bucket of questions I immediately turned to Perez Hilton and said ask your question. And from there as soon as he immediately opened his mouth I said uh oh this might be going in the wrong direction.
Anchor: He said you gave the worst answer in beauty pageant history.
Carrie: Well I don’t think I gave the worst answer in beauty pageant history but I didn’t give the answer he would have wanted me to give.
Anchor: Did you give the answer that was in your heart? Did you regret the answer?
Carrie: I stood up there and I was completely nervous. I was on national television with millions of people watching me. And if you can imagine being called in the top five at Miss USA. It’s a huge accomplishment. I worked so hard to get to that point. And I was just focusing on answering my question and immediately after he asked me the question I started talking and I said should I be politically correct or should I follow my heart and follow what’s right to myself and my beliefs. And I said you know what I’m laying it out on the table this is who I am and this is what I believe and I’m going to stand by what I believe.
Anchor: And he is standing by what he has said about you. Yesterday on MSNBC he used some very colorful language. Let’s face it I want to play what he said. It is not even colorful. This is what he said about you.
Perez: I said the b word and I was very angry. And you know what I don’t apologize. I apologized yesterday because I was upset and angry and I thought I may have been too much in the moment but over the course of the last 24 hours the more I thought about it the more you know what I’m going to stand by what I said just like she’s standing by what she said.
Anchor: And he went on because we’re apparently not going to play it. He went on to call you the c word. What’s your response to that?
Carrie: I can only say to him that I will be praying for him. I feel sorry for him, I really do. I think that he’s angry. I think that he’s hurt. And you know everybody is entitled to their own opinion. He asked me specifically what my opinion was on that subject and I gave him an honest answer. And that’s all I can do. That’s all I can really do.
Anchor: What kind of support have you gotten? Have you gotten support and hate? What are you getting?
Carrie: I haven’t really gotten any hate. Surprisingly I have been getting so many messages and I’ve had over 4,000 friend requests on Facebook and over 2,000 messages on Facebook as well just by people supporting me saying thank you for standing up for what you believe in.
Anchor: Let me ask you this though the director of Miss California USA Keith Lewis issued a statement to Perez Hilton. He says that he was personally sad and hurt that Miss CA 2009 believes marriage only belongs to a man and a woman. You know Keith Lewis; this is the co-executive director of Miss California. Have you spoken to him because he seems to be taking Perez Hilton’s side in this?
Carrie: I don’t know what side he’s taking on this. I know he’s very supportive of my opinions and what I have to say about the attack on me. However, I really can’t say you know he’s entitled to his own opinion as well. And we’re all entitled to our own opinion it just so happen my opinion was announced on national television in front of millions of people.
Anchor: If you had to do it again would you give that same answer knowing that the crown, because according to some of the scoring or at least report you would have won this thing. Would you answer it the same way?
Carrie: I maybe would have given a little more detail on how what I feel about it and given a little more explanation. But bottom line is I believe a marriage should be between a man and a woman. And he asked me my opinion and I gave it to him.
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